MOROCCO’S FUTURE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2351, 18 November 1908, Page 6

MOROCCO’S FUTURE.

THE SULTAN’S PROMISES

The new Sultan of -Morocco is promising to civilise, his country in several directions, and he has started by allowing himself to he interviewed by a lia’-penny newspaper. “I will make my country so peaceful and orderly that any European may travel through it unattended, with as much safety as I walk the paths of my garden,” he stated to a representive of the “London Daily Express.” He went on to say that as soon as his affairs in the capital city were settled, ho would travel through his dominions, punishing and rewarding, enforcing old laws, and, where necessary, making new ones. He would visit every district, and every town of importance in each district, staying long enough to hear complaints and to inquire into them, to receive reports and test their accuracy, and to assess and collect taxes. Many of the taxes are years overdue, so that this portion of the programme is hardly likely to prove popular. Ho would bring into subjection vinruly tribesmen who had never yet acknowledged any Sultan, and should they defy him, would drive them from the mountain fastnesses® from whch they have in the past descended to plunder the industrious plainsmen. The Sultan stated that he intended to make a start with this great work as soon as Franco had withdrawn - from the Shawia district. “It is impossible,” he said, “for me to travel through a part of my dominions which is still under control of a foreign Power. It would mean loss of dignity in the eyes of my people. Neither can I travel through the rest of Morocco without paying a vist to the Shawia country, since that is the seat of the disturbance. However, when France ■considers her just claims have been satisfied, no doubt she will withdraw her troops, and then -1 shall be able to embark on the policy which I have in view.” It seemed, hotvever, that the Sultan was a little nervous regarding the intentions of France, for he proceeded to question the newspaper reprsontative on the point, and to .suggest that a prolonged occupation of the Shawia district would'not be justifiable. ,