ASSEMBLIES BILL

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 3 May 1928, Page 5

ASSEMBLIES BILL

ITS EFFECT EXPLAINED REASON FOR ULTIMATUM. FOREIGN SFjCER ETA RY ’ S SPEECH. (BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.) RUGBY, May 1. The Secretary of State .for Foreign Affairs, Sir Austen Chamberlain, made a statement, this afternoon in the House of Commons about the warning addressed by the British Government to the Egyptian Government. He said: For some days past a Bill for the regulation of public meetings and demonstrations has been before, the Egyptian Barlia inent. This Bill if* designed to.. altei the existing law, which 'has been in force for five years and has enabled the Egyptian authorities to maintain a fair state of public order without hardship to individuals or any undue restraint of public liberty. The new Blill' would greatly weaken the hands of the executive. It would paralyse the police, on whom it would inflict far more heavy penalties for any error of judgment in carrying out their duty than it proposes for those responsible for disorder. Also, it would seriously jeopardise public peace and the lives a net property of foreigners. This is the view taken by the police authorities, both British and Egyptian, and it is shared by the foreign communities. In this connection it is noticeable that when proposals were made in 1924, which would have had a similar resrdt in weakening the hands of the police authorities, the late Zaghlul Pasha opposed them as being contrary to the public interests. The- British Government, which, under the declaration of 3922, is ultimately responsible for the safety of foreigners in Egypt, cannot approve these changes. The riots in Alexandria in 1921, in which nearly 20 foreigners were killed and more than 60 were wounded, will be remembered. Only a ; ew weeks ago an excited crowd, which had been stirred up for political purposes, attacked and damaged the property of foreigners.

BRITAIN’S WARNING. In these ciroumstances the new Assemblies Bill and some other legislation nave for a considerable time caused the British Government grave preoccupation. Serious, but friendly, warnings regarding the Bill have been addressed uy Lord .Lloyd, High Commissioner for. Egypt, to the present Prime. Minister, Nahuis Pasha, and to his predecessor, Sarwat Pasha, but it unfortunately seems clear that the Egyptian Government is .resolved to proceed with tho Bill, and upon the instructions of the British Government Lord Lloyd at 7 p.m. yesterday addressed a warning to ihe Egyptian Prime Minister. Sir Austen then .read the text of the British ultimatum which he had sent in the name of the Government. This said that since the presentation of the British Note of April 4 the British Government had watched with, increasing concern the growing evidence of the intention of the Egyptian Government to proceed with certain legislation affecting the public security. This legislation is covered by the reservation reaffirmed in the British Note of April 4. • He was now instructed by the British Government to' request Nabas Pasha, as head of the Egyptian Government, immediately to take the necessary steps to prevent the Assemblies Bill from becoming law. He wa9 instructed to request Nahas to give him a categorical assurance in writing that the above-mentioned measure would not be proceeded with. Should this assurance not reach Sir Austen before 7. p.m. on May 2, the Note concluded, the British Government would consider itself free to take such action as the situation might seem . it to require. TONE OF THE BILL. The general tone of the proposed Egyptian Assemblies Bill is indicated ~y one or two of its articles. No. 9 states: The following will be liable to a term of imprisonment, not exceeding one month, or a fine, varying from £2 to j>: (I) Any official who makes use of his authority to dissolve, or attempt to dissolve, a private or a public meeting, except in the two cases foreseen in Article 5. (2) Whoever by force or threats prevents or disperses a private ,u- a public meeting, or attempts to commit one of these acts, as well as any official who renders himself guilty of one of these infractions, apart from the two cases foreseen in Article 5.

‘ The article referred to stipulates that a. delegate of the Administration or ' a police officer “may dissolve a meeting if a written demand to do so is made to him by the committee which organised the meeting, qr in cases ot venous disorders; if order is restored die meeting is to be resumed.” Article 8 places the maximum penalty for the promoter of meetings which lead to disorder at one week’s imprisonment, or a fine of £l. it will thus be seen that agitators who cause disorder run the risk of extremely light penalties in comparison witli those to be inflicted on police officers who attempt, in pursuance of their duty, to prevent such outbreaks. As agitators frequently make the foreign communities in Egypt the target or their demonstrations, and as the police authorities would be so obviously restricted in the performance of their les, firm measures to prevent such a Bill from becoming law became necessary on the part of the British Government. ' The latter remains responsible ior the- safety of the lives and property of the foreign communities in Egypt. WHAT EGYPT MEANS TO BRITAIN. (UNITED SERVICE.) LONDON. May L. Lord Birkenhead, speaking at the Imperial Ladies’ Club dinner, said that the British interposition in Egypt.saved that country from ruin. No more disinterested interposition was ever made oy one country in. the affairs oi another. Many great friends of the British Empire thouglit that in our unilateral agreement we went too far, but they must remember that Egypt .stands •>t the vital arterial- point of communication in the British Empire. A\ e know that foreign' communities other than the British residents in Egypt rely on us alone for their protection. .11 is useless postponing the Assemblies Bill till November, and it- is. unwise postponing it to any other time, for never can any country with Imperial responsibilities and with obligations to other countries agree to such legislation.