WARSHIPS FOR EGYPT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20619, 18 July 1930, Page 10

WARSHIPS FOR EGYPT.

The despatch of two British battleships to Alexandria shows that the outbreak of rioting in Egypt is too serious to bo passed by without precautions against a further spread of the flame. Britain cannot stand aloof while the lives of foreign residents arc in danger, for by the declaration of 1022 she is responsible for their safety. Failure to provide protection would certainly bring protests from, and, perhaps, action by, other Powers. Already there has been an Italian protest. Similar action was taken by the previous Government at the end of April, 1928, when, over the head of British protests, the Egyptian Parliament —Nahas Pasha then being Prime Minister—proposed to pass the Public Assemblies Bill, a measure which, in the words of Sir Austen Chamberlain, "would greatly weaken the Executive, paralyse the police and seriously jeopardise the lives and property of foreign residents." Egypt proving stubborn, Britain sent an ultimatum and then two battleships and three cruisers to Alexandria. The bill was withdrawn. An interesting feature of that occasion was that the Parliamentary Labour Party held a meeting, presided over by Mr. Ramsay Mac-Donald, to discuss the position. A statement was issued which declared that the party regarded with apprehension the fact that "the method adopted by the British Government to enforce its views upon Egypt, was that of an ultimatum and a threat of armed force, which the party strongly condemns as wholly unsuitable to the occasion and calculated to leave behind it feelings which are inimical to the growth of the relations desired with the people of Egypt." History has repeated itself, and though events have gone a little further—not much because there had been riots in 1028 before action was taken—the Labour Party, now in oflice, has had to take exactly the same action as that which it condemned strongly two years before.' Having passed this criticism then, can it reasonably be expected to go unscathed now? The Government will not be condemned for sending warships, but it may be, and quite justly could be, for the part it played in the events ! which have preceded the outbreak J rendering a threat of armed force I necessary.