MOROCCO'S TOWER OF BABEL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 25, 30 January 1937, Page 9 (Supplement)

MOROCCO'S TOWER OF BABEL.

Modern Tangier; Its Polyglot Aspect.

CINDERELLA OF NORTH AFRICAN COAST.

NESTLING in a pleasant bay surrounded. by hills, Tangier, the Moroccan 'lower of Babel, tries hard to satisfy all the nations who want to govern it and is to-day the Cinderella of the Xorth African Coast. The warships of three nations lie in the Bay, and the senior naval officer of the port depends npon what nation lias the good sense to send a very senior officer to cruise in theso waters. Its international aspect strikes you immediately you land from the tender and a Moor takes your baggage to the Customs shed. Your passport is examined by a Spaniard, who addresses you in French,* and stamps the passport in Spanish. Then you crocs over to the Customs and a Frenchman asks you if you have enying to declare. And when you leave the shed you are immediately surrounded by Moorish, Riffiian and Spanish taxi-drivers, who clamour in a babel of tongues for your custom. But if you decide to walk, as I did. writes Jerome Willis in "The Sphere," you will receive curses in at least three different languages with a Parthian shot in pidgin Euglish. Italian, British and French sailors stroll through the town, going their several ways and ignoring one another. And half of the cafes hang out their signs in French and the other half in Spanish, sprinkled here and there with Italian. An International Chess Board. A colourful pageant of life passes through the narrow streets and old Moorish archways; hooded Bertars on donkeys, red-fczzed Moors on foot, regal looking Riffs astride their horses and veiled women crowding the sidewalk and pushing their way through Frenchmen and Spaniards in lounge suits and desert folk in flowing gowns. Taxicabs, bicycles and street vendors who

Immediately below tlie administrator comes another strange confusion with three assistant administrators. There is a Briton in charge of finance, a Spaniard in charge of public health and poor relief, and an Italian as a supervisor of justice, who interprets moot points of law affecting the zone, which latter is rather useful to Italy at the moment. The next complication of the governing body is the committee of control. This is composed of all the consulageueral represented on the Legislative Assembly, which, of course, excludes the representatives of the belligerent nations of the war, Austria and Germany. This peculiar committee, whose members naturally never eee eye to eye with one another, vetoes any laws the Assembly passes and with which it does not agree. Here again each nationality in turn has its chance of acting as president. At the moment he is an Italian, and he certainly throws his weight about —much to the disgust of j other nationalities who are waiting their turn to get their own l>ack. .And so this babel of government goes 011 while Tangier struggles desperately to bo prosperous in an international sense, speaking French and Spanish ollicially, but every language under the sun unofficially and using most unite of cxcha nge. Tlio International Settlement is only allowed to tax goods which are to be consumed within her narrow borders of 200 square miles, thus often acting as a clearing port for the French and Spanish zone, but having to pay the officials' salaries. The Spaniards run the police and the French run the Customs. The British don't run anything very much, and the 1 Italians at the moment want to run the

walk in the middle of tlie road add to the general confusion, while a sleepylooking policeman leans peacefully against a: shop window and dozes in the warm sun. Meanwhile the many officials of the International Settlement try subtly to develop it 011 the : r own national lines. At one time the struggle, not open, of course, wa<s mainly between Finnce and Spain, for their nationals formed tlie greater part of the population, but now Italy is becoming a strong competitor, while Britain holds a watching brief and now and again extends a strong hand. But not strong nor permanent enough, in the eyes of her own nationals in Tangier. French and Spanisli are Hie compulsory language* for officials and also lor tho.se who want to do any business there. But for the tourist a knowledge of either tongue is sufficient to get about. Francs, pesetas and sterling p«ss through the shop* and hotels freely, with the French unit holding first place in currency. And the Law Courts More So. The Government is of a most peculiar composition and the Law Courts even more so. It starts with a Legislative Assembly, presided over by a representative of the Sultan of Morocco, who in turn is influenced by subtle French supervision. It includes four Frenchmen, four Spaniards, three Britons, two Italians, one Belgian, one Dutchman, one Portuguese and one American. The American, however, does not exercise his right to sit in the Assembly, as hi* country does not think much of the International Settlement. Thus there is a United States Minister to Tangier, but consuls-general for all other countries. The Legislative Assembly is completed with six Muslim members, nominated by the Mendoub, the Sultan's representative, and three Jews chosen by the Mendoub from a list of nine candidates submitted by the Jewish community. Each community, of course, nominates its own members. The present administrator is French. His original term of office was for six years, but lie apparently proved so successful that it was extended for a further six. That term is now due to expire, and the next administrator in rota should be Spanish, but for diplomatic reasons the appointment has been deferred. Each nationality represented in the Legislative Assembly should ultimately have a subject of its own country as administrator, if the settlement remains international for a sufficiently long period.

wliole place. The police is a most extraordinary body of about a. hundred men, of whom ."«() per cent are floors and the other half Europeans. The European clement includes Frenchmen, Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians and one lone Englishman. Nevertheless, it is a very pleasant place for a tourist to live and not at all expensive, despite this babel of organisation. A warm sun shining out of a cloudless, blue sky during .the day and cool nights attract a large number of retired Knglishmen. They occupy villas 011 tho hills outside the town and are known locally as the "mountaineers.'' As they are mostly Service officers and Government officials who have spent the greater part of their lives in the tropics, their pastimes range widely from tennis to pip-sticking. The legal system includes a mixed Court and a native Court. In the former each of the various European communities has its own judge, who operate again in rota. Thus many private quarrels may be settled in the name of justice. France is by far the biggest importer; Britain the smallest, while Italy and Spain fight for what goes between. Exchange Humours. The exchange question often has some humorous repercussions, as, fur instance, when I wanted to get into the Spanish zone. Previous to the outbreak of the civil war in Spain (which, of course, started in Morocco) an endorsement on a British passport was sufficient to carry you through all French and Spanish Morocco, including the international settlement in Spain. Now the British Consul has to give you a special letter certifying .that you are a fit and proper person to travel into the Spanish zone, for which he charges the sum of 3/(>. First I went to the Consular office, and, after paying this sum in English money, procured the letter. Then I went on to a British bank to change English money into pesetas, which is the only unit of exchange operating in the Spanish zone. But the official would have none of it; pesetas are not quoted officially these days. Thus I had to go to a money-changer and haggle in the market place for sufficient pesetas to purchase -my ticket into the Spanish zone. Finally after procuring this I took a taxi cab to my hotel and the driver had to be paid in francs. He cursed me in pidgin English for not giving him a large enough ponrboire. And, being ,111 Irishman, I replied in American film jargon.