CABINET GOVERNMENT FOR EGYPT.

Evening Star, Issue 19924, 21 July 1928, Page 6

CABINET GOVERNMENT FOR EGYPT.

Pahuamkntauy Government lias been such u success in Egypt tlynt that country is to see how it can got on without it for a time. A decree has been issued by King Fuad suspending the Chamber and the Senate for three years, during which the King will govern with the assistance of Ministers. After that tho Cabinet will decide regarding He ;ii elections. It seems a long time for trying an experiment which has nob given any particular pleasure to Spain. The new regime, wc are given to understand, will bo strictly in accordance with the Constitution, but it does not seem to be much of a Constitution that permits the halls of Parliament to he empty for three years. A holiday lor ton months instead of seven of the year might ho an advantage, once ;n a while, in Now Zealand, but three years of continuous government by Orders in Council or their equivalent, with no check of any kind upon the process, would be an incredible outrage. It is credible, however, that there ia no alternative in Egypt’s circumstances. There have been three Parliaments since tho Constitution came into force five years ago. The first elections resulted in an overwhelming victory for the Nationalist extremists, or Wafd. Zaghhil Pasha became Prime Minister, but in less than a year Parliament was dissolved in consequence of the Sirdar’s murder and the Britisji ultimatum which followed it. A new House was elected a lew months later, to tic dissolved on the very day of the State opening by the King. No further attempt at elections was made ior over a. year, when a Chamber with an overwhelming Wald majority was again returned. It was only by courtesy that those last elections could bo called such, because, to avoid tho bitterness by which previous appeals had been attended, tho parties agreed beforehand how tho seats should bo allotted. A Coalition Government was formed between the Wafdists and Liberals, and that was tho end of their agreement. Under successive Prime Ministers, when the parties have not been quarrelling with the British Government, they have been lighting and conspiring against each other. Tho Coalition has been unable to continue. A purely Waldist Administration would mean nothing but friction with the British authorities, and the Liberals have no real mandate to rule. The present Prime Minister is a Liberal who was a former Zagblnlist, and is described as a stormy petrel. As a solution of the impasse the King will rule, with such Ministers as he can find who will agree. King Fuad is an enlightened monarch, but it was a disadvantage for him in his subjects’ eyes that ho had spent most of his life in Europe till he was called to tho throne. The British Government has not sought the present development. A like regime was discouraged by Lord Lloyd, when tho Egyptians had experience of it, for a. much shorter period, two years ago. It is regarded now as a domestic matter for them to determine for themselves. What will be feared now by Egyptian Radicals will be too much growth of the King’s authority, and he will do well if ho is not as unpopular, before three years have gone by, as British officials have been in the past.