The Hawera Star. FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 1926. ABD-EL KRLM.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 4 June 1926, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 1926. ABD-EL KRLM.

Delivered every evening by 6 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley, Mokoia, Whakamara, Ohangai, Meremere. Frauer Hoad and Ararata.

The suggestion of recent cable mesis that Abcl-el Tv rim and his tribesmen in the hill country of Morocco might not have been able to hold out. so long against the combined forces of France and Spain were it not for, secret support —whether official or otherwise is not specifically indicated) —from various other European conntriesv This may or may not be. Any war attracts adventurers from all countries —one of our most famous British generals, a New Zealander by birth and upbringing—left a revolution in Mexico in order to join up with the Force for the Dardanelles —and the appeal of romantic North Africa may have been stronger than old soldiers from some of the neutral countries of the Continent could resist. The main fact that has emerged from the Moroccan situation in the .past few weeks is that Tv rim, several times reported as beaten and once as captured, is still very much at large. That is not France's fault, at any rate. iSlie has now a veritable army concentrated on African soil —a hundred battalions of infantry, six companies of tanks, forty squadrons of cavalry, and machine-guns, thirty companies of engineers and services, and twenty-two aviation units. To put it plainly, France has found this affair something more than one of the periodical “little wars” which she has had to undertake in her colonial possessions: and now she lias set herself to crush a revolt by some 000,000 people, whose armed foree,s comprise at least 120,000 warriors. “There, is,” said a recent semi-official statement on behalf of the French Government, “the most urgent need to restore the prestige, of France by an overwhelming display of its strength, and by the defeat of the rebels.” 'That is the French, view., There is also the wider international significance of the, conflict, for, whenever a European Power takes the field against Molvahnmodans, there is danger of far-reach-ing repercussions throughout the Moslem world. The defeat of France or Spain in Morocco, apart altogether from the blow it would be to European prestige, would leave its mark on international politics by reason of the great impetus it would give to the Pan-Islamic movement. That is why, wherever and whatever the source of Abd-el iKrim’s strength, the prolongation of his resistance is fraught with immense .possibilities of change in the balance of world power.