The Pahiatua Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 1936. AFFAIRS IN EGYPT.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13165, 25 January 1936, Page 4

The Pahiatua Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 1936. AFFAIRS IN EGYPT.

Gable news received from Cairo this week reports the resignation of Nessim Pasha, the Premier of Egypt, as a protest against the British continued occupation of the country hv the army and the establishment of a naval "base for the Mediterranean fleet at Alexandria, which was rendered necessary by the Italo-Ethio-jiian crisis and which the Egyptians plaini is flouting their soverein rights. Nessirn Pasha, until now, has been decidedly pro-English in his leanings, and although well-liked by his countrymen, he had no particular political following to speak of, ruling the country by decree and

without a proper constitution or Parliament. Nessim, a master tactician, wooed the leading Egyptian party—the .Nationalist- W afd—by securing the right of free speech and bringing about other reforms, and though he had failed to induce the British Government to grant Egypt the return of the 1923 Constitution which provided for the election of a representative Parliament to which the Government would be directly responsible, he managed to keej‘ in their good graces. The necessity for England’s taking advantage of Egyptian territory for emergency purposes following the Abyssinian trouble, had its reactions for NessTm, who could not deny her right to this course. The latter was hotly attacked by the Egyptian press, and would have lost the support of the Wald party had not some of the more rational members intervened. England meanwhile sought to safeguard the Prime Minister by giving assurances that Egyptian status u oukl remain unaltered and that the warships would be removed directly the Ethiopian aifair had calmed down. Unfortunately Siir Samuel jlo;; ro made a somewhat double-edg-ed reference to Egypt in a. speech at the Guildhall soon after, wherein ho paid a. tribute to Egypt's co-opera-tion in the sanctions against Italy, and then denied that the Imperial Government was unfavourable to the return of Egypt's “constitutional regime as suited to her special requirements.” In this way it appeared as though Nessim Pasha was at fault, and that Egypt’s failure to secure her constitutional rights was due to the Premier. The students made an outcry which was further echoed in the Egyptian Press, and the result was that the Wadf party declined to stand behind Nossim any longer. Except for the extreme student following there is no real hostility against Great Britain, and a promfnent American writer in “Current History” considers the Egyptians are desirous of being recognised by Britain as an ally. This would entail the making of a treaty, and such agreement would require ratification by a representative Egyptian Parliament, and this is not possible without a proper constitution.