EGYPT PREPARES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20106, 28 November 1939, Page 2

EGYPT PREPARES

ARMY AND AIR FORCE ) PRO-BRITISH SENTIMENT TENSE FEELING IN 1918

RESPONSE TO CRISIS . A distinct increase in the pro-Brit- ] ish sentiment among the Egyptian . people was spoken of to-day by Mr. Alan Tucker, of the Egypt General , Mission, who is in Gisborne. Mr. ’• Tucker is on furlough "from bis misL sion duties, and left his station in • July, but correspondence he has received from Egypt since he has been in New Zealand makes the attitude ’ of the Egyptians unmistakable. t Mr. Tucker was last stationed at Zagazig. on the Delta, which in size ! is approximately as large as the area ' in a triangle drawn between Wellington, Napier and Wanganui. While this New Zealand area had perhaps a population of 250,000 people, the Delta * population was aboul 10.000,000 and ’ was regarded as the most thickly ■ populated part of the earth's surface. The mass of the people were of the - working class and lived in a primi--1 tive way in mud houses made of sun--2 dried bricks. The remainder of the I people, totalling from 4,000,000 to . 5.000,000, were the educated classes in i the cities who did not have any com- - mon interest with the working class. 1 Last Year’s Crisis

Ever since the British army occupation about 00 years ago, strong proBritish feeling had developed, oven i though there had been occasional . risings. This was heightened during f| the September crisis of last year, when the people realised their vulnerability to attack from either side and when they realised more than ever before what Britain’s protection r meant to them. Portions of the - British fleet were in Alexandria from a time to time, and there was fear of o Italy joining Germany if war broke a out, particularly as the Libyan border ■ was only 400 miles distant, leaving l Cairo and Alexandria within easy y bombing range of aircraft from Italian a soil. In correspondence he had received, l ' Mr. Tucker added, it was evident that the Egyptian people were looking s more and more to the protection of the British navy, army and air force. 3 The British garrison, totalling about ” 10,000 troop's in normal times, had 3 been augmented since the outbreak o'f e war, Indian troops being among the . new arrivals.

Army in the Making d The Egyptian army and air force d was only in the making, and the people i. realised that it must ,be years before a Egypt’s own defence force would be c adequate, while the country's navy c was almost nil. During Italy's invasion of Abyssinia, f some fear existed regarding the .waters 1 of Lake Tsana, which is in the con- / quered territory and on which the Delta people rely so much, so a peaceful Italy meant much to them.

The work on which the mission 1 was engaged was aimed mainly at 1 tile young people. Two thirds of the t children attending the mission schools ‘ were from parents of the Coptic I Church, but approximately one-third t- were of the Mohammedan faith, • Mohammedan parents sending their : children to the mission schools because of the discipline taught there

and which was not acquired to the same extent elsewhere. The mission also conducted hospitals, dispensaries and clinics.