FUTURE OF TANGIER

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 247, 19 July 1928, Page 9

FUTURE OF TANGIER

POWERS CONCERNED REACH AGREEMENT PROTRACTED NEGOTIATIONS CONCLUDED REVISION OF 1923 CONVENTION The- protracted negotiations concerning the future of Tangier have ended in the initialling of an agreement by the representatives of Britain, France, Italy, and Spain. (British Official Wireless.) Rugby, July 17. The British, Italian, and Spanish Ambassadors in Paris and the Secre-tary-General of the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs, accompanied by their respective experts, met this afternoon at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Paris to initial the agreement prepared by experts, and constituting the text of the new Tangier statute. Negotiations leading up to to-day’s act have been of a protracted nature, but have been conducted in the most friendly spirit, revealing a common desire to insure the development and prosperity of Tangier with due regard to the varied interests of the Powers. It will be recalled that, although the scheme for the internationalisation of Tangier, set out in the Convention of 1923, worked well, the refusal of Italy to accede to it was a source of some difficulty and it was recognised that the administration could not be fully effective until the Italians took a share in ,it. The demands of Spain also were not fully met under the Convention, and, after discussions between the interested Powers, it was agreed that France and Spain should evolve a scheme satisfactory to both parties, and that such scheme should be submitted to an expert conference, representing France, Spain, Italy, and Britain. This conference has been sitting in Paris for some time and accepted the arrangement for the French and Spanish revision of the convention with the object of strengthening the provisions against sedition and rebellion and determining the personnel of the gendarmerie and the general administration of the police. Proposals for admitting Italians to a share of the administration were also agreed to, and many difficult questions of finance and judicial reform were finally settled.