SPANISH DENIAL

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 91, 19 April 1939, Page 9

SPANISH DENIAL

TANGIER RUMOURS

OCCUPATION NOT INTENDED

OFFICIAL ASSURANCE

(British Official Wireless.)

(Received April 19, 11.15 a.m.)

RUGBY, April 18

There have been rumours of an intended Spanish occupation of Tangier. Inquiries in official quarters in London elicit the statement that the British Consul-General at Tangier has been given an assurance by the Spanish authorities at Tetuan that there is no truth in these suggestions, which are described by the Spanish authorities as sensational and absolutely false.

After the crisis of 1911 the FrancoGerman Treaty provided a special regime for Tangier and also for a zone of from 15 to 18 kilometres outside the town. The declaration of a French protectorate over Morocco did not alter the situation in Tangier, which was understood to fall outside that declaration. The population complained so loudly of the situation resulting from the jealousies of the Powers that in 1913 Great Britain, France, and Spain decided to draw up a convention and introduce the special regime which the treaties recognised. After months of negotiation ■ the three Powers were on the point of signing this Convention when the World War broke out. The Spanish Government then refused to sign. Tangier was little affected by the war, though the German and Austrian charges d'affaires were expelled along with their delegations. In 1923 the question of Tangier's future was raised again, and at the end of the year France and Britain signed a Convention, Spain signing in the following month. The new status was based on a charter of permanent neutral intefnationalisation, tinder the sovereignty of the Sultan of Morocco (who has recognised the French protectorate over the rest of his dominions). The Sultan maintains his control over Moslem and Jewish Moroccan subjects. He is represented by a high official, and administration of the town rests in the hands of an administrator and two assistants who carry out the decisions of the Legislative Assembly, and are chosen by that assembly, subject to ratification by the committee of control. This committee consists of the Consuls of all the foreign Powers—except ex-enemy Powers —who signed the Algeciras Act. The Legislative Assembly consists of twenty-six members chosen from the subjects of the Powers represented in Tangier. In 1928, Italy having recognised the Convention of 1923, and the French and Spanish Governments having arrived at a compromise in the subject of the redistriLution of their representation, a protocol for the amendment of the Tangier Statute was issued. Both instruments have been adhered to by the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, and Sweden. The population of the international zone is given as 45,000, but ten years ago it was declared to be 56,000, of whom 33,000 were Moslems, 32,000 Jews, and 11,000 Europeans. Nine thousand of the Europeans were Spaniards, and 1500 French.