GERMANY'S INTENTION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 4 July 1911, Page 5

GERMANY'S INTENTION

FURTHER EXPLANATIONS. BERLIN, Monday. The "KoeLnisclie Zeitung,' in a leading ■article, states tliat the sending of. the Panther to Agadir caused 1 a profound impi-ession; but developments in Morocco had forced Germany into action. The situation has gradually becatmie' chaotic. The Sultan's authority , has gone, and' the confusion in the north led to great excitement in the south.' France and Spain, transgressing the Algeciras Act, established stations in the interior, and 1 it was natural that Garmajiy .should' accede to her subjects' demands for protection. The measure is not aimedi at Morocco, a.nid it ia not intended as a counter stroke to the French and Spanish action. , Germany does, not intend to 'establish a pernxanency at Agadia*; but for the protection of her countrymen she will not withdraw until order lias been ' '• The "Koelnische" denies an- intention to land troops at Agadir at present, and adds that it is not intended to' occupy the hinterlands. ~ '

(The claim of Messrs Mannesmann \ Brothers, a German financial firm, .to ■oertain mining rights in Morocco assumed international interest-from ith© vigour with wliich- it was supported .by a' sec- ■ tion of the German .press. It was stated that on October 6th, 1908, Modai Hafid granted to Messrs Mannesmann, for the sum of £15,000, no fewer than 600 min-' . ing claims all over Morocco, and estimat." eel by some authorities to ; be worth ±510,w0,000. Mulai Hafid at that date . had not'been recognised as Sultan by the Powers, and the concession was contrary to a unanimous agreement made-in. August, 1908, 'by the diplomatic representative of the Powers dii Morocco.\This agreement, which was made'- at "the instance of the German representative, and under the provisions of 'the (Act of Algeciras of 1906, pledged the Diplomatic Corps no't to recognise as valid -any law that had not been prepared undei* their - control : or any concession made before the promulgation of that law. Notwith-. standing these facts, which were cleanly set forth in a German White Book, publised in Jan. 1910, an agitation was set on foot in Germany to indue© the; Gro vernment to assert the validity of the' Mannesm inn claims and to denounce the resolution of August 1908, on the grouild that it did not correspond with the spirit of the Act of AJgeciras The Govern - merit, however, stood firm. In a speech, ill . tlie Reichstag on March i6t3i, Heav von Befhmann Hollweg said: "To renounce the resolution. would be aiothinij . else than breach of a treaty, and to'isuch a -policy of treaty-breaking I will not give myself. Nothing; will persuade me to break the pledge contracted at Tangier at our -instance. This poini of is above every other consideration^ Ayltatever." Later in the year took place between the Powers' for' tye submission- to a court of of the various' claims under the Moroccan mining law.)

(Agadir is on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, South of Mogador and south'-wegfc o£ Morocco, one of the capitals. The seaport lias a small population of about 700; but it is the outlet to a fertile region. practically at the foothills of tho Atlas range.) ...