The Hawera Star. WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 1925. THE WAR IN MOROCCO.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 8 July 1925, Page 6

The Hawera Star.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 1925. THE WAR IN MOROCCO.

Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock •!) Hawera, Manaia, Norm&nby, Okaiawa, Elthani, Alangatoki, Kapooga, Alton, HnrleyviHe, Patea, Waverley, Mokoia, Wbakam&ra, Ohangai. Mereinere, Eraser Hoad, an Ararata.

Although the- latest- news from Morocco is. rather more hopeful of a settlement, the sxand that Abdel Krim lias, been able to make against the colonial forces both of Spain and of France must- win for him. a- measure ot recognition from, the world at large. Spain, to be sure, is of no great consequent.© as a military power; but the French troops, fully armed and well officered, may be taken as, a lair .standard by which to gauge the lighting quality ot a foe. It would be a mistake, however, to imagine that all the soldiers of France in, Morocco are Frenchmen. Although officered from Europe, they are lor the most part colonials — Algerians, Moroccans and Senegalese — which makes the French task doubly difficult. “It i* not so much Abdel Krinv who is dangerous,” remarked Marshal Foch recently, “as what he has behind him.” The Rift leader lias behind him every disaffected Moslem from Tangier to Ceylon, as well as powerfuL influences at Beilin and Moscow. Of sixty thousand French troops in Morocco, forty thousand are Moslems, so that France is in the unenviable position of campaigning with Moslems against Moslems in a Moslem country. With Moscow and Berlin standing by ready to throw oil or. the flames,'the whole East might be in. a blaze within a week of any untoward happening in Morocco. The peace offer which lias, now been agreed upon between Franco and Spain will propose for Abdel Krim absolute freedom of deve.lbp merit under the: nominal sovereignty of the Sultan ol Morocco aim within frontiers to la* determined. For the sake of France, who lias need ol a concentration of all her energies on thei financial problem at home, it is to be hoped that peace, will be effected in Africa, on the basis indicated. It is open to question, however, if the idea of freedom under even nominal sovereignty and only within set limits will commend itself to the Biff leader. Abdel Krim lias dreamt* of an expansion wholly unfettered. “All countries were small to begin with,” lie argued not long' ago, upon which premises he ranked his own ease with those of Greece, Carthage, Rome, Ger-

many and the British Empire. If he seeks to follow in the steps ol Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar, no Sultan of Morocco nor defined frontiers will be acceptable to him. The present rising is revolt pure and simple, and the. proper way to deal with rebels —so history teaches —is first to crush them and then to investigate their reasons l'or revolt. Reasons have not so far been conspicuous in the Moroccan affair. Aibdel Krini chose to attack the French without provocation, or at all events without having attempted to persuade them to remove any grievances which Ire might justifiably have pleaded. It looks now as though France, harried by another type of revolutionary on the home front, is ready to turn her attention from Morocco without either crushing the Itiffs or investigating the causes of their rising. The objection to such a. withdrawal is that it would be open to misinterpretation as a sign of weakness; and, if the Near East were to get the idea that the Western Powers are weakening, the result might be another world tragedy.