THE EGYPTIAN SITUATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2241, 11 February 1897, Page 15

THE EGYPTIAN SITUATION.

i' ■ ■ O BRITISH FORCES TO ADVANCE. London, February 6. In the House of Commons the Committee of Supply voted L 798.502 for the Dongola Expedition, including L 270.000 for the construction of a railway between Wady Haifa and Abu Hamed. Sir M. Hicks-Beach, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said the action of the mixed tribunal in overruling the advance by the Cause de la Dette of funds for the purposes of the expedition would cause tbe British Government to gravely consider in 189S the question of a renewal with a body übiuplng the authority which the Powers had entrusted to another tribunal. He also said the main cause of the prolonged occupation of Egypt by England was due to the reluctance of France to give England a free hand. The voluntary retirementof Francefrom dual control in Egypt made England solely responsible for the safety of the country. The British Government intended to advance their forceß beyond Abu Hamed, but for the present the objective point would be unrevealed. England declined to be worried out of a policy she believed to be the right one by a mere monetary difficulty. Mr Morley and Sir W. V. Harcourt protested against Sir Michael Hicke-Beach's language, which was a menace and a defiance amounting to an impudent challenge to France and Russia, and calculated to weaken the concert with those countries. Mr Cuizon, Uuder-secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, denied there was any desire on the pare of the Government to cause irritation, but it was ripht to remember that the mixed tribunal's decision was a political one. PABIB, February H. The French press regards Sir M. HicksBeach's speech as an insolent challenge to tbe dual alliance. The Paris Gaulois states that the object of Count Muravieff « visit to Paris was to urge President Faure to increase the fleets of the Raeso-Frencb. alliance in the Levant, that step being necessary owing to the presence of io British warships in Besika Bay. Cairo, February 7. The Egyptian Government have sent courteous replies to France and Russia intimating that the Caisse de la Dette acted legally in making an advance towards the Soudan campaign.