CONTROL OF TANGIER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19627, 4 May 1927, Page 11

CONTROL OF TANGIER.

SEEKING AN AGREEMENT. MODIFICATION OF STATUTE. I ■ U DISCUSSION BY THE POWERS. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (British Official Wirelsns.) A. and N.Z. RUGBY, May 2. In the House of Commons the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Sir Austen Chamberlain, said thai as a remit of *H exchange of views between the Powers concerned regarding the modification of the Statute of Tangier it had been arranged that preliminary conversations should take place between the French and the Spanish Governments, In the event of a basis of agreement being reached these would be. followed by discussions in which the British and the Italian Governments would join. Tha conversations were still proceeding between Franc® and Spain. Tangier has been occupied In turn bv the Phoenicians,. the Romans, the Arabs, the Portuguese, and also by the British, who evacuated it finally in 1688, It .became, and for a century remained, the diplomatic capital of Morocco. As the Sultans from time to time delegated to foreign representatives a voice* in its loc&l government, there gradually grew up, «» the years passed, a sort of international regime nndor the reigning Sultan, on tho existence of which Great Britain's eventual demand for its neutrality and internationalisatiou was based. That strategic position of Tangier, situated as it is on the extreme north-west point of the African coast facing the entrance to the straits, rendered the settlement of its late of deep concern to at least three other European Powers."-

It %as not till 1915 thai, altar a conference at Madrid between England* France and Spain, the convention was drafted, Only in December, 1925—f0r the Great War intervened—was it ilgnad and ratified shortly afterwards by the British, French and Spanish Governments; and not until a year and a-h&lf later did it oom» menc* to actively function. • This convention renders the statuß of Tangier one ol permanent neutral inter* nationalisation under the sovereignty of the Hnltan, who, represented hy a high Officii*!, the Kiendonb, retains control of iSfiahomroedan and Jewish .t The administration of the town ana its international zone (which covers an area of some 200 .square miles) is in the hands of an administrator and two assistant administrators, whose duty it is to carry out the decisions of the Legislative Assembly, after ratification by a committee of control.