SIR E. GORST RESIGNS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1174, 8 July 1911, Page 5

SIR E. GORST RESIGNS.

—• . BRITISH RESIDENT IN EGYPT. ' By Telegraph—Press Afisociatton-Ooiiyrlen! London, July G. Sir Edward Grey stated in the Housi of Commons that Sir Eldon Gorst hac sent in his resignation .as British Minis ter in Egypt, lis was unable to an nounce his successor. A " MUCH-CRITICISED MAN. Sir Eldon G'orst—who is a New Zealand er by birth—was invalided home fron Italy some months ago, suffering froir paralysis, which had supervened on i sunstroko received while shark-fishing Ho underwent an operation last month and his condition afterwards gavo cause tor gravo anxiety. In the four years that havo elapset since his appointment to succeed Lore Cromer as British Resident in Egypt, In has. been one of the most criticised mer in the Empire. Ho was trained for nmnj years in Cairo by Lord Cromer, and, it ii I stated, was chosen by that great proconsul as his successor. Sir Eldon i; described as an able, conscientious, an< hard-working man, without, perhaps, thai crowning distinction which genius or rea; greatness gives. A report by Sir Eldor Gorst on tho condition of Egypt was issued in May. In it he reiterated th< doctrine that "the British policy in is not merely to give Egypt-the blessing; of good administration, but to train the Egyptians to take a gradually increasing share in their own government." In accordance with this principle, Sir Eldon tolls us, ho took "the modest and not adventurous" step of encouraging tht Egyptian Ministers and officials to take more responsibility and initiative in th« ailnirs of the country, of giving tho Legislative Council and the General Assemblj an opportunity-of making their, voice heard iu matters of importance, and oi developing tho Provincial Councils. But as regards tho Legislative Council and -Assembly, Sir Eldon Gorst frankly confesses that tho experiment has been a failure. Both these bodies have become mere instruments of tho Nationalist agiI tation against the British occupation of [ th'e country, "deliberately setting themselves to thwart and impede Ministers i and their British advisers and render the government of the country impossible." Under the circumstances only one course is open. British co-operation with nativo Ministers "is at tho present time incompatible with the policy of encouraging ,the development of so-called representative institutions." A "Daily Mail" writer said recently of Sir Eldon Gorst: "Whatever pusillanimous instructions the Foreign Office may have sent him, Sir Eldon's loss of personal prestige can be no one's fault but his own. This has como about in many ways— chiefly, I imagine, because Sir Eldon is ono of thoso people who havo rather, a •jnntempt for doing things unon formal, ordinary 'lines. Much has been made of his meeting tho Duke of Connaught in a ■'an and motor costume. Taken by itself, this would havo little significance. But the quick Oriental observation has found in numerous incidents, each quite small in itself, shrewd reason for contrasting Iho British Agent unfavourably with his