THE MOROCCAN WAR

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9613, 6 October 1909, Page 5

THE MOROCCAN WAR

A GRAVE OUTLOOK.

""' WAR BETWEEN SPAIN AND SULTAN FEARED. United Press Association—By Eleotric Telegraph Copyright. Received October 5, 9 a.m. LONDON, October 4. Strong contingents from the neighbourhood of Fez have reached south of Zeulan. War between Spain and the Sultan, Mulai-Hafid, is now feared.

The spseial correspondent of "The 'limes" (London) at the front givas the following interesting description of the scene of the fighing:—"Melilla is situated on a little promontory jutting out into the Mediterranean. It is in a position very tenable against foes without artillery. Lying along a ridge west of the valley of the River De Oro, the old works and a circle of block-houses and forts secure it against an infantry attack, provided they are wellmanned. West of the valley tower the two peaks of Mount Gurugu, which aie about 3,000 feet high. The nearer summit is three miles, the further four miles, distant from Melilla, and between them runs a deep gorge very broken and difficult to approach. The gorge is said to be full of boulders and caves well known to the Riff Berbers, who have made the range their citadel. A little, east of Melilla begins the Mar Chica—a little landlocked sea running eastward; almost as far as the River Zeulan. It could be made the best harbour on the north coast of Africa. South and east of Mount Gurugu, about twenty miles away, are valuable mines, and it is the railway thither that is the cause of the present war. (Workmen constructing the line were killed by Riffs). The northern coast of Morocco, from near Tangier to the Algerian frontier, is peopled by Berbers who were really never subdued by the Arab invasion, and have till to-day practically retained their independence.' They have always been first-rate fighting men, and have never fought better than during the past month." The Spaniards are fighting in Moorish territory. Melilla itself is Spanish, then comes a strip of neutral ground, and then the Sultan's territory. The Spanish Government contend that they are not at war with Morocco, but are merely doing necessary police duty, which is really the business of the Sultan, who, however, cannot do it.