TANGIER'S FUTURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19418, 28 August 1926, Page 10

TANGIER'S FUTURE.

Spam's statement of reasons for pressing her s claim to Tangier does not materially advance her cause. Whatever she has done or not done in North Africa by way of a "civilising mission of an international character" is not affected by Tangier's fate. There have been difficulties, it is true, iri ensuring that the zone should not be a refuge for rebels and an open door for contraband, but these difficulties ought to be met just as effectively by a revision of international oversight as by handing the zone over to Spain either as a possession or a mandate under the League. The argument that the inviolability of the Straits of Gibraltar is of interest to many Powers cuts the ground from under her own feet. It is precisely on this account that the virtual neutralising of the zone is desirable. The straits are less likely to be violated by illegitimate use of Tangier if there is joint interest in the zone than if Spain alone should have control. To say that a mandate under the League would ensure neutrality is to ignore the fact that the mandatory system was not meant to apply to other than exenemy territories, and the granting of a mandate is consequently beyond the power of the League. The in-1 ternational regime has certainly been lacking in durability, but a mandate would iliavo no perpetuity. These arguments are so self-contra-dictory and unconvincing that they show conclusively the weakness of Spain's case. It becomes less and less likely, as discussion proceeds, that the claim will be. sustained. To yield to it would create more difficulties than would be removed by acceding to it.