ASKING TOG MUCH

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 11867, 28 June 1924, Page 6

ASKING TOG MUCH

EGYPT'S CLAIM TO SUDAN VISCOUNT GREY SAYS BRITAIN AIUST BE FIRAI. REMARKABLE SPEECH. Ev Assn.—Copyright Reuter’s Telegram. LONDON, June 26. A debate in the House of Lords_ on the Sudan question, whichawas raised by Baron Raglan, developed importantly owing to a notable intervention by Viscount Grey of Falloden, who deplored the, fact that practically ail Lord Cromer’s splendid work in the administration of Egypt had gone or was going. He hoped it would be impressed on Zaghlul Pasha, the Egyp tian Premier, when he visited London shortly, that the right of protecting and administering tho Suez Canal would not pass to the Egyptian Go vernment “NO SAY AT ALL.” Britain should equally make it clear that it was not going to abandon the exceptionally fine work it had done in the Sudan. Egypt would never have had a finger in the Sudan again but for Britain. He insisted that in tho forthcoming negotiations the Government should make it-quite clear that the Egyptian Government had no say at all in the question of the Sudan. The only exception must be the question of the Nile waters, which, he acknowledged, was a case for a joint-Egypt-o-Sudanese Commission. ‘Viscount Grey attributed the bold attitude of Egypt in regard to the Sudan to the impression that we had been “on the run” in Egypt. He considered the questions of Egypt, Sudan, and Irak as interdependent, and earnestly urged the Government to give careful consideration to Irak on military grounds. He prefaced his striking speech with the statement that he did not know whether his views represented those n? tho Liberal Party. GOVERNMENT FIRAI. Lord Parmoor said the Government did not intend going back on the past British policy in Egypt. The AngloIrak Treaty, for which Viscount Greyhad expressed distaste, would he submitted to Parliament before it was ratified.

What is now known as Auglo-Egyp-tian Sudan was recovered from the Ala-hdi (who had seized the country from Egypt in 1882) and his successor by Anglo-Egyptian forces in iB9B. A convention between the British and Egyptian Governments, completed in 1899, provided for the administration of the territory south of the 22nd parallel of latitude by a Governor-General appointed by Egypt with the assent of Great Britain, and laid down the principles of the administration. There are 15 provinces, of which the Governors are British officers of the Egyptian Army employed under the Sudan Government or British civil officials of the Sudan Political Service, and the administration is Carried out through British District Commissioners.