EGYPTIAN DISOBEDIENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20642, 14 August 1930, Page 10

EGYPTIAN DISOBEDIENCE.

The policy of non-co-operation solemnly affirmed in June by the Wafd in Egypt has gone so far that the Government has taken active steps against two prominent members of the party. The causes leading lip to this position have been various, and not all as represented by Nahas Pasha and his associates. A crisis was precipitated early in June, when King Fuad refused his assent to certain bills tho Wafd Government had introduced. They were represented as safeguarding the Constitution. In essence they were an attack on the Royal prerogative. When the King refused to assent, the Government resigned. A new non-party Cabinet, was formed and Parliament was prorogued a month before it was due to go into recess in the ordinai-y way. Then the non-co-operation movement was started, all the Wafdist members formally taking an oath to support it. These are the surface conditions of the crisis. Beneath them lies a serious economic problem, to the making of which the Wafd, in its short period of power, contributed heavily, but which it had made no move to solve. Cotton, the most important single crop grown in Egypt, has fluctuated seriously in price with a general downward trend since 1921. Twice in the last nine years the Government has intervened in a time of depression and bought cotton for the relief of growers. Each time fortune was kind, the market recovered and the Government made a profit out of the transaction. Again, in tho 1929-30 season prices fell, and the stop-gap Government of Adly Pasha began to buy. When the Wafd gained office it continued to do so in greater volume. As a result, the Government now holds cotton valued at some £13,000,000, with no prospect of realising on it before the new crop is picked next month. If prices are not better then, the Government cannot well buy, because it has no more funds for the purpose. When the Wafd gained power there was a reserve fund of some £39,000,000. Besides the £13,000,000 jised for buying cotton, tho Government utilised £15,000,000 to buy Government bonds on a depressed market, against expert advice. Of the balance all but £2,000,000 is earmarked for various purposes. „ In these circumstances it is fairly obvious the Wafd has run away from an impending financial crisis; largely of its own making. Having done so much, it proposes a policy of non-co-operation as its share toward meeting the position. The whole episode is a significant commentary on the senso of responsibility ruling in Egypt.