WAR IN MOROCCO.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 13 July 1925, Page 5

WAR IN MOROCCO.

PROVOCATION UNWISE.

BRITAIN STRICTLY NEUTRAL. -v.^oociatjon—Electric Telegraph—Copyrigl LONDON, Saturday.. Tlic Daily Express understands mat the British Government lias dispatched; an unequivocal reply to -.Spain’s' request for joint defensive operations against the Riffs, intimating that it cannot agree to send troops to Tangier.

it is considered that the Riffs have; no intention of invading the neutrality; of the Tangier territory, and that men-: su res such as Spain contemplated; would merely provoke them. The Notej deprecates joint Franco-Spanish action with the same object, and states that Britain could not countenance any proposal to draw a cordon round the southern frontier of Tangier. .Lt also declines to agree to the proposal that; the tribes in Tangier should be disarmed, and urges that the reports of smuggling are insufficiently well founded to warrant drastic action.

British operations will, therefore, be confined to assisting in policing the territorial waters of Tangier.—Aus. in.l N.Z. Cable Assn.

RIFFS IN STRONG FORCE. LONDON, Saturday. A report from Fez states that the situation at T'aza, which strong enemy concentrations are threatening, is well in hand. Every precaution is being taken for the efficient defence of the town. The assembly of native troops, ordered by the Suican, is proceeding satisfactorily. The first troop, of 1000 rifles, will be ready to take the field for the French in a few days.—Reuter.