THE CRISIS ENDING.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1236, 19 September 1911, Page 5

THE CRISIS ENDING.

FRANCO-GERMAN AGREEMENT.

OPTIMISM IN PARIS,

By Telegraph—Pnesg Association—Copyright (Rec. September 18, 11.10 p.m.)

Berlin, September 18.. The "IColnischo Zeitung" declares that the only difference now remaining between Germany and France is relative to commercial matters. Tho "Lokal-Anzeiger" says merely formal differences remain to bo settled, but it urges that tho formal guarantees, in view of tho Madagascar and Tunis precedents, must not lack clearness. FRENCH PRESS VIEWS. ANTI-WAR, MEETING. (Rec. September 18, 11.10 p.m.) Paris, September 18. The newspapers are optimistic with regard to tho Moroccan settlement, and anticipate that an agreement will be signed at the end of the month, A large meeting has been held at the frontier town of Bussang, on the Moselle. Half the audience was Alsatian, and French and German deputies addressed the gathering, protesting against the idea of war and supporting the Jena 'Socialist manifesto. POSITION OF SPAIN. SECRET TREATY ALLEGED. \ Paris, September 17. It is asserted that tho French reply to Germany inquires respecting a secret Hispano-German treaty, and asks for cortain guarantees regarding this. It is reported in some circles that Spain has ceded to Germany a port in one of the Canary Islands, not one of the Canary Islands altogether. A DENIAL. (Rec. September 18, 11.10 p.m.) Madrid, September 18. The Prime Minister, Senor Canalejas, denies that there was ever any question of Spain ceding to Germany a port or an island in the Canaries. THE CONGO BARGAIN. . MOVEMENT AGAINST CESSION. Paris, September 17. Countess Drazza has protested to President Fallieres against sacrificing the Congo. A movement is growing against tho cession to Germany of the best parts of French -Congo. Delegates to tho amalgamated , Seine Unions are considering the international capitalists' alleged desired diversion of the demands of the -workers by utilising the Moroccan incident. It has been decided that there shall be a general revolutionary striko in the. event of war. BELGIAN PRECAUTIONS. Brussels, September 17. The Belgian Cabinet, on receiving an optimistic Berlin telegram, postponed.the summoning of the three classes of reservists, as had been decided upon. THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. , .GERMAN AND FRENCH COLONISA- ,?■(->•' TION SCHEMES!' ' > "- •

Looking at the map of the West Coast of .Africa, stretching from Morocco in the north to Cape Colony in • the south, one sees how the European Powers have put their colonisation schemes into operation there, exercising influence over and taking possession of scattered areas of varying "sizes and importance. With the exception of tJvo Liberian Republic Great Britain,' Germany, France, and Portugal may be said to share the territories and influence along the coast. Great Britain has Gambia, Sierra Lcons, Ashanti, Southern Nigeria, and Cape Colony; Germany has Togoland, tho Cameroons, and' /German South-West Africa; France has Senegal, and the Sahara beyond, the Ivory Coast, and the French Congo; and Portugal has Portuguese West Africa, otherwise Angola. German colonisation in West Africa (writes the "lloruing Post") is of comparatively recent growth. She came into the field suddenly and unexpectedly; there were a few bold strokes; the other Powers did not realise what Germany was going to do until it was done; and in 1881 the German Hag "had been raised in Togoland and in Gorman South-AVest Africa. This result was brought about by the influence which tho German traders and tho German African Society brought to bear on Bismarck. When that statesman asked the Chambers of Commerce of Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubcck what was the best means of encouraging German trade in Africa, they all replied in one word—annexation. In ISBI there were about sixty German factories on the West Coast, from Portuguese Guinea to Damaraland, and there were about 100 German missionary societies there. No one took tho German suggestions for colonisation seriously until one morning the world awoke to the fact that Hen- Liideritz, a Bremen merchant, had unfurled the German flat at Angra Pequena. Thero woro explanations and expressions of surprise, but Germany did not move, except in the direction of extension. That was tli,b beginning of German South-West Africa. Further up the coast Gc-rmany took Togoland in 18S1 by putting up her flag. This followed a visit of a gunboat to impresp the natives. Tho territory known as the Cameroons was secured by agreements with tho chiefs, who turned to Germany because they could get no answer from the British Colonial Oflico in reply to requests for annexation. Thus Germany established her West African Empire. The German Colonies. •c^n^ n , an South-AVest r j ca j, as an arenor square miles and a population of 120,000. ' Windhoek is tho eeat of administration. There aro mountains in tho interior and • barren land on tho coast. Herr Luderitz's extravagant hopes about mineral wealth have not been realised. The natives have caused a good deal of trouble, for they aro bloodthirsty and especially hostile to the whites. Ge'rmany has had to make frequent expeditions against the revolting blacks. Ihe Cameroons have an area of ne*irlv 200,000 square miles and a population of 3,000,000. The seat of the Government is at Buea. Vegetables can bp grown, and thero are plantations of cocoa. The German officials are said to havo exhibited great want of tact in. dealing with the natives, and there have' been several littlo rebellions. Togoland is the most prosperons of the German West African colonics. Tho' cocopalm is extensively planted, and maize is cultivated. Moreover the country forms one of the highways to the Sudan. Railway development has proceeded in the German colonies in Africa, but has been hampered by the difficulty experienced in getting labourers. In . the Cameroons are two railways in course of construction, the Northern running from Duala, tho chief port, to Manenguba Mountains, and the Jlidland running from Dnala through Eden into the interior. WireleS6 stations are to bo erected in German South-West Africa with a view to establishing communication with Germany. France in West Africa. Franco has huge possessions on the West Coast of Africa, but her occupation .is mostly military. The French Coii<:o, which is tho most interesting of tne French colonies at the present moment, extends along the coast between the Cameroons and the territories of the Belgian Congo. It was in 1811 that French acquisition began on the Gabun River. Libreville, tho port, which is not accessible for large vessels, was established in 181' J. Exploration and military occupation have largely extended the territories, and international conventions havo described their boundaries. In au area of 609,000 square miles, hh6 colony has a population of more than 10,000,000. Coffee,

vanilla, and cocoa can bo successfully grown. Territorially French North Africa, French West Africa, and French Equatorial Africa aro all one, linked together in tho interior by tho Sahara and Lake Chad, though separated along tho coast by numerous territories, British, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and independent. Administratively, however, these three great divisions of Franco's Colonial Empire are quite distinct, and hold very different positions in tho scale of importance. French North Africa, embracing Algeria and Tunis, borders on Morocco, and has political and military as well as economic importance. French Equatorial Africa, embracing Wadai and the Shari-Chad region as well as the Gabun region and part of the Congo basin, has still to bo brought under complete control as regards a .large part of its area, and has always been in the nature of a white elephant. Only French West Africa, comprising Senegal, French Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Dahomey, and the Upper Senegal and Niger Colony, together with vast territories under looser control in Mauritania and on the borders of tho Sahara, has Immu left to develop free from extraneous considerations or serious internal troubles. Its advance in the past decade has been remarkably rapid—how rapid is not generally realised, but is revealed very clearly in a remarkable scheme of railway expansion recently unfolded beforo tho Government Council by the Governor-General, M. Ponty.

The immediate proposal is to raise a loan of 150 million francs («£6,000,000) Under the guarantee of the French Republic. Not only is this additional to loans of 65 million francs (£2,GOO,000) and 100 million francs (,£1,000,000), which have been raised in the last ten or a dozen years for the purposes of railway construction and kindred public works, but it is only part of an expenditure of 480 million francs (.£19,200,000), which M. Ponty estimates will bo required to complete the railway system which he envisages. Already Tailways aro penetrating the interior from the coasts of Senegal", French Guinea, the Ivory Coast, and Dahomey, and the idea is to extend these and link them together in tho remote hinterland, at tho back of the British and German Possessions and of the Republic of Liberia, by a series of transverse lines. "With the loan now propesed it is intended to complete the railway at present under construction from Thies (on the Dakar-St. Louis Railway), to If ayes, on the Upper. Senegal, which will obviate the difficulties of navigating tho Senegal River. From Kayes a lino already runs to Bamako, on tho Upper Niger, and this it is proposed to extend by a lino which will ultimately stretch right across the great bend of the Niger. M. Pouty allows in his estimates for ono hundred miles of . this extension. Other extensions and connections are provided for, amounting altogether to between six and seven hundred miles of railway, and about one-tenth of the proposed loan is reserved for harbour works at Dakar, Konaltry, and on the Ivory Coast. Not long ago the Governor-General toured over practically the whole of the country through which tho projected lines will run, and he formed a high opinion of their economic resources, some districts being rich in rubber, some in palm oil, some in cattle, and some in various other products, Bnt what is specially deserving of attention is the large foresight which is shaping tho scattered railwavs nowshown on the map of the French West African Colonies into a connected and homogeneous system serving the needs of the whole group.