The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 1919. DISORDERS IN EGYPT.

Timaru Herald, Volume CVIII, Issue 16799, 1 April 1919, Page 6

The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 1919. DISORDERS IN EGYPT.

The disturbances in Egypt seem to have been rather a "boil-over" of mob elements than a risinginformed by any definite plan., No organised attack was made upon the British army, and there was reported to be no disaffection amongst Egyptian troops. There is no doubt, however, that the rioters Avere encouraged by* Nationalist extremists, and the statement that it will take ~ tllie country years to recover from;the effects of the excesses bears witness to the damage done. The disorders have not ceased, moreover, since General Allenby has had to threaten stern repressive measures for the restoring of order. The Nationalists want to rule their own country, no doubt, and the mere fact that that is their aspiration may seem sufficient reason to some unthinking peonle. why it should be granted at once, But the Nationalists are only a fraction of the people of Ejrypt, who are totally unfitted for self-rule, and, if it were granted to them, could only be*come thei prey of the strongest. neighbouring- people, as they had ever since the beginning- of the Christian era, until a British protectorate was in fact, though not in name, established thirty-seven vears a»'o. Since that time it has been the obicct of the British Administration to fit Egyptian

Subjects to rule themselves. Lord Cijoiuer announced the ihitish policy only a year before the war: *" It (Kgypt) is, and will always remain, a. oos.-nopolituii country. The ronl fubuvo of Egypt, tJiaroforc, lies not in the direction of a narrow nationalism, wlri'h will only embrace the native Egyptians, nor in that of an endeavour to convert Egypt into a / British possession on the model of India or Ceylon, but rather in that <>!• on enlarged cosmopolitanism which, , whilst discarding all the obstructive fetters of tllio cumbersomo old international system, will tend to amalgam? nto all the inhabitants of the Nile Valley, and enable them all alike to share in the government of their native or adopted country."The only question is how fast this obieot can be brought about. The Egyptian Nationalist politicians would have self-govern-ment in a day, but they do not speak, for the masses of their countrymen, still less for. the other races who inhabit Egypt. . Lord Cromer believed that the process could not be hurried, and his judgment was confirmed when 'his successor, ' Sir . Eldon Gorst, made rapid transfers of authority ( to Egyptians, with the only result that affairs'became more and more disordered, till Lord Kitchener was sent io . succeed him with a different, policy.' "Lord Kitchener," wrote Lord Cromer, "speedily gained, the confidence c *>f all sections' of the Egyptian public, especially worthy - tof note thai he did so, not by , allowing the 'Effyntians to govern ''themselves, but by exercising a , .'Stringent control over the pro- '< c.eedings of the Khedive, and by .• himself governing the 'Egyptians." ' Disturbances* in Egypt , there have alwaysi been at.intervals. It is significant of the extent * to which" the- country has been gov- , ferried in the natives' interest, and to their benefit, that during, all the years of the war they were ' almost non-existent. Some trou,ole there was with the' Bedouins, the roving Arab tribes' who- are always looking for excitement, and' the Khedive showed himself , a Turkish partisan and had to be ' 'deposed) but the striking aspect of the Egyptian peoples' attitude was; their loyalty to rule. < fJDhoy had, cause to approve a .'Government, which gave them . security < never.known before, in- . creased the productivity of their t country' by enormous' works, r'e- ' ' duced | taxation :to an unprecqd- . rented point, and made it a coriv ~sistent to- keep taxes low. [The war brought new; prosperity I*>\ Egypt by tho new value which „ it ; gdve,to the cotton'crop, .but taxes, were not increased. There is no, doubt' that these benefits ■ have been appreciated , by ,th« ' ,9}gyj?ti**»,'»' ot whom politician's; '■ihren when those;are not selfjjeekersi' l 'form , the smallest blew. . ITfte present trouble v may' have ',bee,n encouraged by a< too hasty ftehewal of Sir Eldon |orms" or'lHirkish agents, may jTO'lM* busy among the ;&#pUflna;„. strange ,if Egyptian dWo>* were, riot'in- ' "fluenced by the unrest which has produced disturbances in so many fafta of L the world. It is most 'improbable, however, that- any ,»deflr of .governing themselves iii . jjh. democratic way something 'they have never, done, or as a peoplfe,paired to do—has entered, into their, notions of a ris- ' • &. I'lffl*!?®' 'nUhve. than -•political," is Lord- Curaon's description of the riots' which Nationalists, having, first proved, .' tore now striving to calm. - In a fe|w days we shall hear that the' disturbances have been put down.1