THE EGYPTIAN PROBLEM

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 6 August 1929, Page 4

THE EGYPTIAN PROBLEM

THE Egyptian problem is threefold. In the first place, it includes the important matter of the maintenance and adequate protection of the Suez Canal, which is of vital importance to Great Britain and the Empire, because it is a connecting link in the route between Great Britain, and India and the Far East and Australia. In the second place, the problem includes the maintenance of order and good government in. Egypt itself; not such an easy matter, as at first sight would appear. And in the third place, there is the question of maintaining order and good government in the vast region of the Sudan, which is inhabited by quite a different race from that which inhabits Egypt itself. Now, history shows that both the safety of the Canal and the tranquillity of the'Sudan depend very largely upon the maintenance of order and good government in Egypt; and, as has been said, Great Britain's interest in the Canal is vital and her interest in the Sudan, where she has invested immense sums in irrigation schemes and railway extension, is so great that she cannot afford to run any undue risks in the matter. It .was the rebellion of the Egyptian Army under General Arabi and the massacre of "Europeans in Alexandria which caused Great Britain to interfere .forcibly in Egyptian affairs. If she had not done so, there is little doubt that Arabi and his rebillious troops would have seized the Canal, which they were prevented from doing only by their decisive defeat and rout at the battle of Tel-el-Kebir by a British army under the command of Sir Garnet Wolseley. At the same time trouble arose in the Sudan, where the Mahdi, seeing the inefficacy of the Khedive's Government in Egypt, proclaimed a holy war throughout the Sudan, and raised his green standard in rebellion. So it will be seen how essential it is to British interests in the Canal zone and in the Sudan that good government should be maintained in Egypt. Equally clear were the reasons for Great Britain's intervention in the government of Egypt, and the maintenance there of a small, bat sufficient, armed force to guarantee the non-recurrence of such troubles as arose under Arabi's direction. During Great Britain's 47 years of intervention the country's finances, which were in a woeful state in 1882, have been put in order and have been kept in a sound condition ; Egypt's population has doubled; her revenue and bulk of trade have increased proportionately; the Sudan has been reduced to a state of quietude and good government, and today is in a condition of prosperity which piotnises to be greatly extended under British supervision and with the aid of British capital. In 1922, Britain's protectorate over Egypt ceased, and Egypt was declared to 1)0 a sovereign State, subject to certain reservations of the British'Government affecting (1) the safety of the British Empire's communications via the Suez Canal; (2) the defence of Egypt' against foreign aggression, direct or in- , direct; (3) the protection of foreign interests in Egypt and of minorities; and (4) guarantees for British interests in the Sudan. But no sooner had «his measure of self-government been conferred on Egypt, and her Parliamentary system had been put into operation than the Wafd, or Nationalist Party, proceeded to turn the country into a political beargarden. And it has remained very much so ever since. Indeed, so bad has been the political state of affairs that a year

'ago King Fund suspended the Constitution and proceeded to govern without a Parliament. Now, however, on the British Labour Party coming into power, the first important step .to be taken by Mr Ramsay MacDonald's Government, so far as British interests abroad aro concerned, is to draft' an agreement with the Egyptian Premier, Mahrnud Pasha, surrendering presumably those reservations which Mr Lloyd George's Government, in 1922, deemed necessary to British interests in Egypt. Of course it is impossible to comment on this now agreement before it is published, but it well may be asked, How does the new British Foreign Minister, Mr Henderson, propose to guarantee the safety of the Suez Canal and of British interests in the Sudan, if the unstable and inefficient Egyptian political machine is given complete control of Egypt's political destiny? It is known that the Wafd, which is immeasurably the strongest political party in Egypt, aims at ousting the British from the Sudan. It would be like leaning on a broken reed to expect the Egyptian Government, dominated by that party, to safeguard the Suez Canal, and to act as the guardian of that waterway on behalf of the British Empire and of the world generally. What then will MiHenderson's proposal be? Certainly it will have to be approved by the British Government, and it is to be hoped and expected that the Conservatives and Liberals will combine in preventing the new Government from concluding any arrangement which may endanger the safety of the Suez Canal or British interests in the Sudan.