SITUATION IN MOROCCO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 11 March 1908, Page 27

SITUATION IN MOROCCO.

MOROCCO, March 2. It is intended to largely Teinforce General d'Amade, to enable him to undertake extended operations. Reports from the Algerian frontier show that the Francophobe movement is increasing. PARIS, March 3. France notifies the Powers that she will increase General D'Amade's force to 10,000 men. France is firmly resolved to fulfil her pledges in Tegard to Morocco. The formal proclamation of Mulai Hafid as Sultan of Morocco in place of his brother, the weak and irresolute Abdul Aziz, suggests that the task of the French in El Magreb is only just beginning (states an English paper). It is hardly to be supposed that the deposed Sovereign will make no attempt to keep his authority, vet the Ulema would hardly have proclaimed his rival if they had believed that there was any likelihood at all of his regaining such prestige as he ever possessed. The presence of two rival Sultans must necetsarily seriously increase the anaTchy from which the country is suffering, and perhaps the best course for France would be to come to an understanding with Mulai Hand. On the other hand, it is b.V no means certain that the Moors would relish too good an understanding between their Sultan and the infidel. Moreover, it is essential to remember that to many of them anarchy presents no terrors — rather the contrary, indeed. In any rase the task of " pacific penetration" hae been made much more difficult by recent evente, and it begins to look as though the penetration, whether peaceful or warlike, would be remarkably slow.