Hilali Pasha at Work
The Prime Minister of Egypt has to fight simultaneously on many fronts. He has never believed, as his predecessor, All Maher Pasha, for a time hoped, that co-operation with the Wafd was possible, and he has thus been obliged to accept the risks of an open struggle with them. At the same time he has to grapple with an alarming economic situation and to embark on negotiations with Britain which will be the ultimate touchstone, in his compatriots' eyes, of his success or failure. Hilali Pasha is a man of integrity and courage, but he will need more than• these qualities if he is to succeed; he will need, if not the active support of the Egyptian public, at least their passive acqui- escence. To achieve this he must not only act with decision, but explain his actions. In the past few days his Government has taken two- important steps to bring the situation in hand; it has placed two of the former Wafd Ministers under house arrest, and it has intervened in the cotton market. Both actions could easily be misinterpreted. The banishment from Cairo of Serag ed-Din Pasha, the former Minister of the Interior, is not primarily designed to remove from the scenes an ambitious demagogue, but as a token punishment for the part which he gplayed in allowing the riots of January 26th to get out of hand. This, when the evidence about the riots is published, may be made clear to the man in the street. But the Government's policy of supporting cotton prices at an artificially high level will in the long run damage the producers although it may give them some short run relief. The Wafd intervened in the Alexandria Cotton Exchange to force up an entirely artificial price for cotton. The result of this policy which was dictated by personal considerations, has been to saddle Egypt with the bulk of a year's cotton crop unsold. The policy of supporting prices further therefore involves supporting market-riggers as well. Thus, in the course of averting the danger of clearing stocks at a loss, the new Government has had to follow a bad precedent. But in the long run the measures which Hilali Pasha has taken should strengthen his hand—if he is allowed a long run.
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