BONE OF CONTENTION.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 September 1926, Page 12

BONE OF CONTENTION.

CLAIM TOsTANGIER. RECORD THROUGH THE AGES. DOZEN TIMES CONQUERED. Tangier, on the southern shore at the western entrance to the Straits of Gibraltar, was the Tingis of the Old Roman Empire—the capital of Mauretania Tiugitania —and before that was an important port of the Carthaginian (writes Harold Denny in the Naw York Times). A dozen peoples have conquered Tangier since the breakdown of the Roman Empire, and for centuries pirate ships used to fare forth from its little harbour to prey on the commerce of the world. It was from Tangier that the Moors embarked for their conquest of Spain, and, when the Moorish tide ebbed in tile Iberian, Peninsula, Europe once more set foot in Africa at Tangier. First Portugal owned the city, then Spain, and then Portugal again. After that the city fell to England as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza on her marriage of Charles 11. The Moors and Berbers and Riffs, however, fought tooth and nail to recover it. and the struggle cost England so much that Charles 11. abandoned Tangier in 1634, after blowing up the fortifications and levelling the mole. A few years later, in the war against Spain, the English took Gibraltar, and have dominated the Straits ever since. In the last century the French, at war with Morocco in the conquest of Algeria, bombarded Tangier. The first Moroccan agieement by European Powers was signed in London in 1904 by the French and British Governments. Under its terms France waived any interests she might have in Egypt, and Britain gave France a fairly free hand in Morocco, with a proviso that Spain should be considered in the Agieement. France and Spain signed a secret agreement in Paris, giving Spain control of the entire northern part of Morocco, with France technically in control of Morocco as a while. KAISER INTERVENES, Tangier again became the scene of an international crisis in 11’05, when the then Kaiser Wilhelm made a swashbuckling visit to the city as a result of the division of Morocco between France and Spain. With considerable fear at heart, as private letters have disclosed since, the Kaiser made a triumphant entry into the city on horseback and declared that Germany did not intend to allow the breaking-up of the Sherifiian Empire of Morocco, and proposed to support the Sultan s authority. This at once brought on a crisis be tween France and Germany, which might have resulted in war. The danger was averted in 1906 by the International Conference of Algerians. in which the principal world Powers, including the United States of America, participated. The conference formulated the Aet of Algeciras, which embodied an international administrative programme for Morocco, and in a general way defined the fields of interest of the various Powers. Germany was subsequently eliminated from the field of North Africa, and her place, in a sense, taken by Italy. In all the various conventions the neutral status of Tangier has been guarded. Spain, however, wants the city included in her own zone, which, on the land side, embraces Tangier. Technically, Tangier is part of the Sherifiian Empire, and is governed officially by Sultan’s representative, the Mendouh. This official has complete control over the native population. For the others, international and civil criminal codes lire administered by mixed tiibunals, presided over by British, French, and Spanish Judges. The Government of Tangier is in the hands of an Administrator and two assistant Administrators of British, French and Spanish nationalities. There is a representative Assembly composed of 26 members of eight nationalities, elected by their compatriots. Legislation is subject to the scrutiny of a Committee of Control, consisting of the Consuls-General of the Powers adhering to the Tangier Statute. The L T nited States and Italy are not parties to the Statute, and enjoy many privileges, including exemption from taxation. The city itself is a melange of nationalities. Of its 50,060 inhabitants, 30,000 are Mohammedans, 12,000 Jews, 6000 Spaniards, and 1800 French. The other Europeans are mainly English and Italian. The English have large commerical interests, but the Spanish element predominates. The city is once more, through Spain’s claim, the centre of international unrest. It is deemed unfortunate that the strategic and geographical position of Tangier makes international rule necessary. For site, and climate it is probably unexcelled in the world.