The Waipawa Mail WEDNESDAY, FEB. 23, 1938. ITALY AND THE SUEZ CANAL.

Waipawa Mail, Volume LXVI, Issue 67, 23 February 1938, Page 2

The Waipawa Mail WEDNESDAY, FEB. 23, 1938. ITALY AND THE SUEZ CANAL.

JSjIGNOH MUSSOLINI is very anxious to secure an interest in the control ot the Suez Canal, and it is stated that the. Italian Ambassador in London has handed Mr Neville Chamberlain a memorandum suggesting that “in view of Italy’s newly-won Empire in Africa she should have a share in the defence of the canal.” In the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty signed in August of last year there was special provision for the protection of the Suez Canal. Britain was granted authority to station troops there, in a specified zone, to ensure, with Egyptian co-operation, the defence of the Canal. Not more than 10,000 troops, or more than 400 Royal Air Force pilots, may be maintained in the Canal zone. Authority was given for the stationing of military forces at Moasear and in the Geneifa area, and for Air Force stations to he constructed within live miles of the Port Said-Suez railway, from Kantara in the north to the junction of the Suez-Cairo and the SuezIsmailia railways in the south, with an extension along the Ismailia-Cairo railway to include the R.A.F. station at Aim Sueir. The necessary barracks, land, amenities, etc., will ho supplied by the Egyptian Government, which has also undertaken to construct and maintain any roads, bridges, and . railways necessary for strategic purposes. The passage of aircraft over the Canal and within twenty kilometres of it (except for British and Egyptian machines) is forbidden.

A London message on January 26th reported the completion of preliminary estimates for barracks for British troops in (he Suez Canal zone, at a cost of £12,000,000, including underground storage for fuel and ammunition. An aerodrome of 400 acres costing £1,000,000 was also reported as being constructed. The treaty terms, however, reserve the right of the Egyptian Government to take over the defence of the Canal in 20 years’ time and provide for the question to be submitted to the League of Nations. In 1875 Disraeli made his famous purchase of the Khedive’s 176,000 shares in the Canal at a. price of about .£4,000,000. Recently those shares were computed to be worth £88,000,000. This purchase gave Britain a seven-sixteenths interest in the Canal, but the majority control of the Canal and the head office of the Canal Company remain in France. Two years ago it was stated that 21 of the 32 administrators were French, 10 British, and one Dutch. The French Government has no direct interest in the Canal and the French directors represent private interests. Only three of the ten British directors are

representatives of the Government, the others representing commercial and shipping interests. The vulnerable position of Italy’s new African Empire, if the Canal should be closed, is obvious. However, the Convention signed at Constantinople in 1888 declared that the Canal should “always be free and open, in time of war as in time of peace, to every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag.” During the RussoJapanese War Russia sent her fleet through the Canal. In the past Britain has maintained garrisons about the Canal at Cairo, Port Said, Alexandria, and Ismailia.