5 NOVEMBER 1927, Page 1

The visit of Italian ships of war to Tangier, which

was obviously designed to assert the rights of Italy, recalls the famous visit of the German Emperor to Tangier when he tried to put his spoke into Anglo- French policy. True, the Italian visit is far less theatrical and therefore much less talked about, but it is highly significant. In our opinion Italy should never have been left out of the Tangier question. Her geo- graphical position and her essential interests gave her a right to be consulted at the Paris Conference of 1923, and it would have been less than natural if she had not sooner orlater called attention to this fact. The Italia9 - _ . _ . Minister, indeed, in a statement to the Tangier corre- spondent of the Times described his country as " the most essentially Mediterranean of all the Great Powers."