FUTURE OF EGYPT.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 January 1920, Page 5

FUTURE OF EGYPT.

PLEA FOR INDEPENDENCE. PROCLAMATION TO THE NATION. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received Jan. 5, 10.4 p.m. Cairo, Jan. 5. Prince Hussein, son of the late Sultan, and five grandsons of Mohammed AH, have issued a proclamation, addressed to the nation, declaring their solidarity in the nation's demands for complete inde-pendence.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

The British Mission in Egypt, of which Lord Milner is chairman, comprises Lieu-tenant-General Sir J. MRxwell, who commanded the force in Egypt from 1908 to 1912, and from 1914 to 1915; Mr. C. J. B. Hurst, K.C., of the Foreign Office; Mr. J. A. Spender, the well-known journalist; Brigadier-General Sir Owen Thomas, M.P.; and Sir J. Rennell Rodd, formerly Consul-General at Cairo.

Mr. W. Ormsby Gore, M.P., who was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Lord Milner during the war, writing on the future of Egypt in the New Europe, advocates the creation of a new Middle Eastern Department and Ministry in the Imperial Government.

"Englishmen in Egypt," he states, "have long felt that the Foreign Office in London, as at present constituted, is not organised or manned for the purpose of supervising adequately the complex administrative, financial, and legislative problems that are found in Egypt. The work of diplomacy and administration are so different that many > hope that Egypt and the Egyptian services may leave over and behind them a department manned by men with experience of administration in Egypt and the neighboring countries. It is felt that in the Foreign Office Egypt has hitherto occupied the position of a Cinderella, and in particular the Anglo-Egyptian Civil servant feels he is a member of a Cinderella service. Our responsibilities in Egypt and the Soudan alone require the creation of a new Middle Eastern Department and Ministry, and if to these are to be added responsibilities in Palestine and Mesopotamia, such a new Ministry becomes an urgent necessity. Something on the lines of the India Office will be required if the economic development, moral and political progress of these countries is to be fully realised."