IN EGYPT

Hokitika Guardian, 14 October 1933, Page 6

IN EGYPT

SELF GOVERNMENT TRIAL. The experiment of giving representative government- to Egypt in 1922 has not proved a great success as yet, According to All- Douglas Porter, general secretary of tli© Egypt General Mission, who is visiting Auckland. “Tiie new Constitution cannot he said to he working satisfactorily.” Mr Porter said, “because the East teems with intrigue. The Alahommedan idea of God is strongly fatalistic, and that desensitises the conscience. Jt is difficult for people to trust one another, ■a nd so representative government cannot function very well. With all we deplore of the slacking of the moral fibre of -the West since the war, we have at least inherited an integrity of character which makes representative government a success,” Air Porter, who has had his headquarters in London fur the past five years, lived for 22 years in Egypt prior to that, -and spent four months in that country last year. The present Government of Egypt, he said, was in the nature of an autocracy. The Prime Minister, Sidky Raslni, who retired from office at the end or last month, was the dominating strong man of the country, and by sheer weight of power lie had made the Parliamentary Opposition, which was infinitely more' numerous ' than Ids party, quite inarticulate. Every demonstration against the Government seemed to be put down almost ruthlessly.

NEW PRIME MINISTER. Sulky’ Pasha's successor, Abdul Fattali Yeliin Pasha, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, w ; as not a man

well known, but, indeed, most Egyptian personalities had been quite overshadowed by Siclky Pasha. Sidky Pasha was a very strong Nationalist, but anxious to come to terms with Great Britain and so he discouraged political disorders. He wanted to get the people of Egypt to think agriculturally rather than politically. Egypt had been suffering from an overdose of incompetent politicians, and, as in most countries were illiteracy prevailed ,fhe student body, which was almost wholly Mahommeclan, was j very troublesome. The Egyptians on the whole did not dislike the British, but the educated class greatly objected to any Power occupying their country, which they believed they were quite capable of running for themselves. The difficulty was that those who were politically articulate were, only a very small minority. Indepen.' j deuce was granted ..to Egypt in 1920' On the recommendation of Lord Allen- • by, with a > C()ii.stityti,oj|,uQUr' tainmg only a'few limitations'in such matters as tiie government of the -Sudan and the. .. control of the Suez Canal.,. As far' as; its own internal affair^', were cone-sped,' however, Egypt "'toys' a' f soverbigif ’sfiFtev'' _ Jv . ; ATTACKS Ofl; MISSIONS* h: Speaking of the work of missions in

the country, Mr Porter said there had been a good deal of encouraging result following from the activities of mission

schools and hospitals, which had been to a large extent the pioneers in health and education. During the last two years the political opposition had been attacking mission work for its own purposes against the Government. When an incident occurred that stirred up local religious feeling they gave it the widest publicity and carried on a press campaign of calumny and misrepresentation, and called upon Government) to suppress missionary activities. The 'Government was not anxious to do this, but the opposition had succeeded in forcing it to introduce measures curtailing’ mission work. Details of wluit the new limitations may be wpre now being awaited.

One of the saddest- features of this commotion against missions had been the' operation of the old law of Islam laga ns womanhood. The old law of apostacy ordained death by stoning to ■tmy man who pro verted from Islam, hut that could not be put into effect now, and the worst that happened was more or less serious persecution. In the case of a woman the change of her religion involved the exercise of the l ight of private judgment, a thing tin was absolutely denied to womanhood by by Islam. WOMAN UNDER "3LAM

A case had recently arisen in which a women convert from Islam had been brought before the Courts of canon law and had been ordered to be- divorced from her husband, who was a Coptic Christain. The marriage was declared invalid and the husband was likely fo he proceeded against on the serious charge of abduction. The couple had, however, managed to escape from the country while their c-ase was still being (fete rmin ed.

The Egypt General Mission, which was founded 37 years ago by seven young men from the North of Ireland,

had now more than 50 men and women workers on the field, besides a largeliodv of Egyptian assistants. One large boy’s school at Isnniilia bad about 250 pupils, and several girl’s schools contained from 50 to 120 pupils. In a thickly populated part of the Nile delta there was a mission hospital with 40 beds.

“The future of mission work is a little uncertain just now,” said Mr Porter, “because we do not know what the nature of the suggested restrictions may he. Possibly they may be as severe as they are in Turkev, but more likely they will be modified to permit a certain amount of mission work.’” Air Porter, who just completed a tour :of southern centres in the interests, of his mission, is spending a week in Auckland before leaving for Australia to carry out two or three months’ deputation work there.