MOROCCAN AFFAIRS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 58, 30 August 1911, Page 5

MOROCCAN AFFAIRS

[ A WRONG CONCLUSION. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright. Berlin, August 28. Sir Fairfax Cartwright, the British Ambassador at Vienna, in replying to a correspondent, disclaims responsibility for the anonymous articles in the Neue Freie Presse, which ill-informed people ascribed to him. APPROACHING A SETTLEMENT. London, August 28. Reuter's Berlin correspondent confirms French and German newspaper reports that Fiance and Germany arc approaching a settlement regarding Morocco. The Times' Berlin correspondent considers that the Anglophobe attacks were intended to cover Germany's retreat and conceal the important fact that Britain had persistently striven to bring about a Franco-German settlement.

AN AGREEMENT DRAFTED. KAISER'S WARNING TO ENGLAND, Received 30, 1 a.m. Berlin, August 29. IM. Cambon, the French Ambassador, is the bearer of a draft agreement elaborated with a full knowledge of Germany's standpoint. The* Frankfurter Zeitung states that it assumes the draft will receive Germany's assent on all the main points. The Kaiser's speech is variously interpreted by the German press as a peace pronouncement and as a warning to England.

AIM OF GERMAN* POLICY. It may now be stated, wrote the Berlin correspondent of the Times on July 5, that the immediate aim of German policy in Morocco is to force conversations with France and Spain about Morocco, and it may be added with as little reserve that a prominent factor in German cal«ulations is the belief that England's desire for friendly relations with Germany, and especially recent expressions of that desire, have removed, any probability of England, for her part, making difficulties or asserting herself. Once again, in fact, the German business temperament has sought all too soon to translate into something else mainifestations of goodwill and symptoms of a political entente. It is hard enough to guess whence the phantom of a Moroccan settlement between France and Spain, with Germany in the chair, arose. British interests would seem to be clear enough. The relationship between Great Britain and France—and for the matter of that between Great Britain and Spain —would seem to be, if anything, clearer still. The calculation, however, belongs to those who made it, and it can only be said that it is utterly unjustified by anything that has been said either in general conversations between England and Germany or in anything that has passed between French and German statesmen. There are those who think that after much consideration the expedition to Agadir was held to be at any rate harmless. As regards England, however, it is a matter at least for regret that Germany, at the risk of general damage to the international situation, should have compelled her to make a display of steadfastness which is now inevitable. It really seems as if some people would never tire of periodical testings of the international situation, and especially of the Franco-British entente on the one hand and of England's determination to maintain her naval supremacy on the other.

The port of Agadir, the port to which the German warships were despatched, ■has the best roadstead in Morocco, and gives shelter from all the winds of the Atlantic. It is the most northern port of the Sus country, and is the western gate of the Soudan. As a port on the route to South Africa, the importance of Agadir is obvious. The province of Sus is extensive and fertile, and is reported to be rich in minerals. Many attempts have been made by European nations to effect a settlement oil the coast, but the. policy of the Moorish Government lias always been to keep the door closed. The Portuguese landed at Agadir and built a fort in the sixteenth century. The Dutch followed the example in'the eighteenth century, and until 1773 the Spaniards claimed the right to land for water and food. A British company established itself at Cape Juby, in ij\e Sus country, and was bought out by the Sultan. This led to an agreement' under which the British Government recognised the authority of the Sultan of Morocco as far south as Cape Bojador on the twentysixth parallel of north latitude, and undertook that no trading or other operations should be begun without the consent of the Sultan. Until the end of the eighteenth century and from the beginning of the fifteenth Great Britain had a nominal Vice-Consul at Agadir. The first French commercial house in Morocco was established at the port in 1670.

The population of Agadir does not exceed 300 or 400. There are no Europeans there, and the only aliens are Jews. At the foot of the cliff on which Agadir stands is Fontc, where the Portuguese built a fort to protect the springs. Here arc another 300 or 400 people, all of tJiem Berbers of the Sus. Agadir is nearly eighty miles south of Mogador. The town stands on a ciiff overlooking the roadstead, which lies on the flank of the great trade routes to America. It is a walled town, with gates that are shut at night. The Berbers who inhabit the town and province are a warlike people, who have never really submitted to the Moors, though they acknowledge the religious authority of the Sultan. The Berber chiefs of the Sus have on more than one occasion endeavored to enter into negotiations with some European Power, for though jealous of their independence, they have always been eager to secure protection against the Moorish Government.