MOROCCAN AFFAIRS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 59, 31 August 1911, Page 5

MOROCCAN AFFAIRS

GERMANY SEEKS A COMMERCIAL FOOTING. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright Tangier, August 29. A feeling prevails that the FrancoGerman negotiations for a settlement will be prolonged until the result is known of Messrs Mannesmanns' investigations with regard to the mineral wealth or otherwise of the Sus region. It is estimated that German has spent £IOO,OOO in bribes in Morocco, the Sultan receiving £60,000 for a concession to German firms. THE GERMAN ATTITUDE. Received 31, 1.20 a.m. Berlin, August 30. The official organ of the Regency of Brunswick states that if the new French proposals are unacceptable to Germany the latter will not regard herself as bound by the Algeeiras agreement, and after reinforcing the fleet in Moroccan waters will resort to independent measures in Southern Morocco.

VIEWS OF THE "TIMES." In a leading article on July 21 the London Times wrote:—"The German demands are at last known. They are understood' to be surrender by France to Germany of the whole of French Congo from the sea to the river Sanga, and also the renunciation in Germany's favor of the contingent claims of France to the acquisition of the Congo State should circumstances at any time lead to the alienation of that vast and important territory by its present possessors. This is the compensation which Germany demands for the aid which France has given the Sultan of Morocco at his express request for the maintenance of his sovereignty and the restoration of order and peace within a portion of his dominions. The world has been accustomed to large demands by Germany, hut it •will hardly learn without extreme surprise of pretensions so farreaching as these. . . . Germany does not pretend to tender France any real equivalent for the concession she requires. She has again and again declared by the mouths of her leading statesmen and in her official press that her interests in Morocco are wholly commercial ; and it is little more than two years ago since she reaffirmed this statement in the most explicit terms in a solemn compact with France. She has acknowledged the 'special political interests of France' in Morocco, and has announced her resolve 'not to impede those interests.' Nevertheless, she seizes on the opportunity given her by France's vindication of these 'special political interests' to invite the Republic to hand over a vast colonial dominion acquired by French energy, monev and blood, and to surrender to her claims over an adjoining .territory vaster still, the possession of which would make her the dominant Power of Central Africa, give her one of the best harbors and coaling stations on the Atlantic coast, bring her into immediate contact with our possessions at several new points, and cut off British South Africa from the north. The claims to the Congo State which she asks to haive transferred to her are, it may toe pleaded', but contingent claims. That no doubt is the case, but when her proximity to Belgium is considered, it is easy to imagine means which might be employed to ensure the early falling in of this desirable reversion."