THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8276, 1 November 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1906.

The refusal of the Emperor Menelik to agree to the agreement come to by Great Britain, Italy, aud Franoe as to tbeir attituie towards his kingdom, was not unexpeoted. When the agreement was signed by the Powers the Paris correspondent of The Timeß said that should the Emperor raiße objections they might safely be attributed to one of two causes. The flrsi was the rivalry of the British, French, ind Italian agents at the capita), which, of oourse, was not insurmountable. The seoond, as eight £have been expected, whs German influence, f he Emperor's wife is notoriously under Turkish and German influences which are now synonymous in some parts of the world. The Sultan of Turkey provided this lady with funds to build a chapel in Syria, and is said to have completely won her heart by this action, and increased her dislike for every thing English and French. "If the full truth must be told," says the correspondent, "it is not everybody who has witnessed with satisfaction the conclusion of an understanding between Italy and the Anglo-French entente. ' This may be said with confidence, that, had it not bqen for the jealous eye that has o'oseiy watched the ooura© of the trlparltote negotiations and for oertaiu interested suggestions from outside, matters

would have oome to a favourable termination long ago." It would seem, however, aa if the importance cf the agreement was not wholly depend ent on the assent of Menelik. According to the correspondent, the agreement would be submitted to him "principally out of courtesy" —significant evidence of the amount of control a weak state ha 9 over its destinies. But the mere fact that three Powers have agreed upon the status quo and the open door, and a railway polioj iu Abyssinia, is an important preoedeut, for if agreement can be arrived at there, it can also be in other places where there are causes of friction. The economic importance of the agreement is great. Hitherto Abyssinia has been little more than a "geographical expression with only a primitive administration." If the agreement bears fruit, Abyssinia will be something more before long.