THE H.B. TRIBUNE. TUESDAY, AUGUST 16th, 1921. MOROCCO.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XI, Issue 199, 16 August 1921, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE. TUESDAY, AUGUST 16th, 1921. MOROCCO.

We are all so much taken up now with matters of more intimate concern that but little heed is given to the troubles with which Spain has been faced in Morocco. Government in the old land of the Moors is rather a tenuous and indeterminate sort of affair. Nominally, the Sultanate, or Empire of Morocco is an absolute despotism, unrestricted by any laws, civil or religious. The Sultan is chief of State, as well as head of religion. Since the establishment of the French Protectorate-first recognised by Great Britain in 1904, and by the other interested Powers in the Treaty of Algeciras signed in 1906 —the Sultan was placed under pledge to follow the advice of the French Resident General in all matters of control and general administration. Spain, however, retained her centuries-old possession of the little peninsula town of Melilla, which has been mentioned so frequently in the cables, and was also accorded a “zone of particular influence” along part of the Mediterranean coast. Despite the Sultan’s nominally'arbitrary rule, each of the scattered tribes that form the great majority of his subjects is very much of a law to itself. Particularly, is this to be said of the Berbers, who can claim to form the majority of the population, and have also the advantage of being superior to the Morrocan Arabs both physically and mentally. Of the Berbers the most self-assertive and independent section is to be found in the tribes that inhabit the area between the Riff mountain range and the Mediterranean Sea. They have always been a persistent source of anxiety to the Spaniards, who were never sure when an armed rising might take place. In 1909 such a disturbance arose, being directed at Melilla, and Spain sent a large force to suppress it, the results being the temporary subjugation of the tribes and the military occupation by Spain of a considerable area of the Ruffian region. In 1911, however, a more general rising took place directed against the Sultan himself, who appealed to France for military assistance. This was promptly given, not' only in the interests of the Sultan, but for the relief of the large number of Europeans in Fez who were, along with him, in danger' of their lives. Britain fully approved, but Spain complained that her offer of military co-opera-tion with France had been declined, and relations between these two Powers were somewhat strained when, on the pretext of avenging the murder of a Spanish subject, Spanish troops were landed at an Atlantic port outside the Spanish zone. This brought the tension almost to the breaking point, and led up to the “Agadir incident’’ which almost precipitated then the war that turned out only to have been postponed for three years. The Kaiser, seeing an opportunity to assert himself, sent a cruiser to the “closed” port of Agedir, also on the Atlantic coast, “to safegard the persons and porperty of German subjects.” As there were no German subjects at Agadir, this action could be construed only as intended to be a provocative insult to France. However, the crisis which arose was passed. 1 Britain and Russia both stood by France, and the Kaiser took second thought and decided he had been a little premature, and that lie needed a little more time to prefect his preparations. Then, as in 1914, he was badly disappointed by Britain’s regard for a “scrap of paper” to which both herself and Germany had subscribed. German dignity was soothed by some formal readjustment of Franco-German territorial boundaries on the Congo, and France’s protectorate in Morocco was confirmed. Subsequent negotiations between France and Spain led to a further treaty, at the end of 1912, by which France acknowledged Spain’s right to exercise a protectorate over a comparatively narrow strip of the northern portion of the Sultan’s realm. In this there has since, as before, been almost continuous trouble with the tribesmen, the Spaniards exhibiting their proverbial ineptitude for dealing with native races. The French Protectorate has not been by any means free from like conditions. But there they have been treated with a set policy of firmness in suppressing disturbances of the. peace by aggressive plunderers, coupled with systematic efforts to develop the resources of the country and improve the circumstances of the general population This policy is beginning to show practical and. it is hoped, permanent results. But the task is no light one to reduce to order a scattered population which, for centuries, has been used to no effective restraint, and has had scant regard for any doctrine of “meum and tuum,” but has practised to the full “the good old rule, the simple plan, that they should take who have the power, and they should keep who can.”