Feilding Star Oroua and Kiwitea Counties Gazette. MONDAY, JUNE 7, 1920. COURTESY AND CAIRO.

Feilding Star, Volume XVI, Issue 4018, 7 June 1920, Page 2

Feilding Star Oroua and Kiwitea Counties Gazette. MONDAY, JUNE 7, 1920. COURTESY AND CAIRO.

The searching review of the Commission of Lord Milner on the need for reforms in Egypt—a mere hint '-of which has only so far been flashed over the cables—has gathered added interest in Britain overseas through ! the fact that so many colonials spent . about a year in the Land of the ' Pharoahs in military training from 1914 ..onwards. The problem of keeping order in Egypt has been almost as insoluble as that of Ireland—and in both countries the Nationalists have been yelling down through the year J for license, rather than, liberty, a degree of Home Rule that spells a re- j public rather than adherence to con- ' ditions that have only been possible . through the paternal guidance of British statesmen. The odd thing is that both the Egyptian and the Irish Nationalists make the same charge as. the cause for the ill-feeling towards Britons—the bad manners or the English officials. It is said that in Dublin and in Cairo alike they go out of their way to tread on the susceptibilities and tender feelings of those who have occasion to wait upon them in an of-

ficial capacity. We know that here in New Zealand there are well-paid officials of the public service who can barely condescend to be decent or civil towards members of the general public which provides the taxation to pay their substantial salaries. It is reported in the inner circles of Wellington in connection with the Prince's recent visit that the Governor-Gene-ral, talcing advantage of tjie high compliment and courtesy the King paid him Tpy giving him precedence over the heir to the throne during the latter's stay in New Zealand, actually went so far out of his way as host as to reprimand the Prince for making himeelf "too cheap" to the common people by standing up in his motor car during the procession! "It is beneath the dignity of the King's son." or words to that effect. At a dance, too, the same blundering Englishman sought to direct a royal guest who had the instincts of courtesy and self-sacrifice inbred in .him. In Egypt, in Ireland, in New Zealand, "man clothed in a little brief authority" mistakes discourtesy for dignity. On the other hand, there is the native mind and habit to be considered, especially in Egypt. The Egyptians are a very much mixed race, and this makes it essential that there must not bo extended to them that familiarity which breeds contempt. Our returned men who were encamped about Cairo tell us, from experience common to all of them, that the coul'tesy of the right of way in the streets extended b/ New Zealanders or Australians — such as stepping on to the road when a group of Egyptians of any and every degree came along—was immediately followed further down the street by those "Gyppos forcing the visitors oft' tlu path. It was not a case of courtesy for courtesy, but contempt for courtesy. That was why it became necessary for the men of the army of occupation to assert , themselves, for, after several very natural acts of unconscious courtesy on the part of the colonials, the Caireans, like the Huns at the same period over in Europe, thought these little acts of considers tioii were only so many demonstrations of fear 'that might was right. Street riots resulted, and Kitchener, the one Briton who was familiar with the psychology of the Egyptian (the hand of iron beneath the velvet glove) had to order a parade of the full strength of the army of occupation— horse, foot, and cannon—through the slums of Cairo to impress the native mind and demonstrate the power behind the paternal rule of Egypt. At the same time, consistent courtesy from the men in high places towards the subject races has been one of tho greatest assets of our Empire-builders, and has made for the outstanding success of the British race—English, Irish, Scots, and Welsh—as colonisers.