NEWS OF THE WEEK
THERE is little to report from Algeciras. Private negotia- tions having shown an irreconcilable difference between France and Germany, it only remained to discuss the question publicly, and call the attention of the Conference to the dis- agreement. The question of the State bank was dealt with in Committee during the early part of the week, and the three schemes—those of France and Germany, and a brand-new one suddenly presented on behalf of Morocco, and bearing signs of German authorship—were examined. The Committee recog- nised the preferential rights of France in virtue of the Morocco Loan of 1904, and proposed a Council of Administra- tion meeting in some European capital, to whom an appeal would lie in disputed matters. Whatever the finding of the Committee, it is, of course, open to Germany to reject it; but for some reason a more optimistic view on the settlement of the bank question seems to be now in favour. The police question will come on formally for discussion on Monday next.
