EGYPTIAN PREMIER NOT DISMAYED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18452, 1 May 1928, Page 1

EGYPTIAN PREMIER NOT DISMAYED.

(United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) LONDON, April 30. A Cairo telegram confirms the report that a British Note regarding the Assemblies Bill was handed to the Egyptian Government on Sunday evening. After Cabinet had discussed the Note King Fuad gave an audience to Nahas Pasha. It is expected that when the Bill comes before the Senate on Monday night it will be referred to a legal committee, which will have the effect of shelving the Bill. The Cairo correspondent of the “ Dailv Telegraph ” in a later telegram savs that a British Note in the form of an ultimatum has been presented to Nahas Pasha, who states that he is not dismayed, and is determined not to resign until he is forced to do so. The diplomatic correspondent of the “ Daily Chronicle ” states that the British Government has sent an ultimatum to Egypt that if the Assemblies Bill is passed it will take action to safeguard British and foreign interests. It is believed that this action will take the form of a seizure of the Customs.— Australian Press Association. STORY OF TROUBLE. The proposed Assemblies Law, which came before the Egyptian Senate yesterday. has provided the tinder that may be fanned into a flame in Egypt, unless the British demand that it be dropped at once is acceded to. The present trouble commenced with the rejection of the proposed AngloEgyptian Alliance, since when the antiBritish feeling, fostered by the Diehards, who clamour for the departure of the last British soldier before any discussion with Britain, has been growing. Mustapha Nahas Pasha, the Premier. is leader of the Wafd (Nationalist) Party, the group responsible for the rejection of the proposed treaty and the production of the Assemblies Bill. When the Egyptian Government rejected the draft of the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, which had been negotiated by Sarwat Pasha and Sir Austen Chamberlain, it was reminded in a communication, sent at the beginning of March, that the British Government would not permit the discharge of its responsibility'for the protection of foreigners in Egypt to be endangered by Egyptian legislation. The present Bill is regarded by the Press as having the effect of facilitating political agitation and weakening

the hands of those whose duty it is to maintain order. Among the clauses which attract comment are those which stipulate that police officers may attend a meeting, but can only dissolve it in two cases—(l) If the committee responsible for the meeting requests in writing that this should be done; (2) in case of grave disorder, in which event the meeting can be resumed if calm is considered to have been restored. Lighter penalties are imposed on demonstrators who contravene the law than on officials dissolving the meeting in cases other than those indicated in the Bill. The terms of the whole measure are reported to have created misgivings among foreign residents in Egypt, and among the Egyptian police, who would have to \yaj.t for a definite breach of the peace before they could take executive action. “The Times,’' commenting: on the matter last month, said: “ Zaghlul Pasha himself considered that the existing law of public meetings required strengthening rather than relaxation, and it can only be supposed that the extremists in or behind the Wafd Party have simply made up their minds to impose an irresponsible gesture upon the Egyptian Government. Political exchanges in Egypt have almost always been accompanied by anti-foreign rioting. There are fully 100,000 foreign residents in Egyptian towns, and others, especially Greeks, are scattered about the countryside. The value of their pro : pertv is considerable, and in times of trouble they are regularly menaced by local roughs, whom the Egyptian authorities have always, found difficulty in restraining and whom they will hardly be able to restrain at all if the Public Meetings Bill becomes law. Until the proposed law has been definitely passed by the Senate and signed by King Fuad, there is always hope that wiser counsels will prevail at the last moment, and that even the wilder spirits will realise that some gestures are neither dignified nor prudent.”

The situation as it stands to-day provides, an illuminating study in the ways cf Egypt. Last November hopes were high that the end of the Anglo-Egyp-tian differences was in sight. King Fuad, on his return to Cairo from his European visit, said that he had been able to give Europe a better idea of the true position of Egypt. “ Egypt,” he said, “ is now regarded with respect and friendship. We Egyptians must seize the opportunity offered by forgetting the past and joining hands and doing what is necessary for the welfare and prosperity of our country.” But Mustafa Nahas Pasha’s Government has chosen the opposite path, demanding complete independence and the withdrawal of British interference in the internal affairs of Egypt.