Evening star., 1924-04-20

y,
Howard Carter would still be at
work in the tomb of King Tut
ankh- Amen, and the royal mummy
would be inview instead of remain
sns fnclosed III its golden coffin be-
meath its four protecting shrines. For
while, on the face of it, the fight be-
tween Mr.. Carter and the Egyptian
government over the tomb Of King
Tut appears to be for it's treasure, the
real causes lie much deeper.
Since the success of Zaghloul Pasha
at the last elections the Nationalist
party in Egypt has been demanding
the complete independence of Egypt
and the Sudan. This means that
they want the British to get out--not
only the army Of occupation, but
british officials of all kinds And the
British are getting out.
TO be sure, they could remain if
they insisted upon doing So But a
policy of letting the Egyptians run
their own country has been adopted,
and while it is unlikely that the Brit
ism will leave the Sudan, they are
turning over every department of
the Egyptian government to the Ma
tlonaliSts, who are now in power.
consequently, it is not surprising
That the new minister of public
WORKS Morcos Bey Hanna, who was
recently appointed by the new Ma
tionalist premier. took the first op-
portunity to remind Mr.. Carter that
the tomb of Tut ankh-Amen was not
his private property, but the property
of the Egyptian government. And
"hen Mr. Carter felt his rights had
oeen infringed upon, he promptly
stopped all work and closed the tomb
only to. wake up and find a fight
on his hands that may take years
for the courts to settle.
The Egyptian officials of the an
tiquities division of the ministry of
public works have been at odds with
howard Carter for many months, for
the reason that all the information
ABOUT the discoveries in the tomb has
been given exclusively to the London
Times, which is said to have paid the
estate of Lord Carnarvon and Mr..
Carter between ten and twelve thou
sand pounds sterling for the publica-
tlon rights. The Egyptian government
mas taken the position that the dis
coVeries of the tomb should be given
10 the World-and that all newspaper
representatives should be treated
alike.
newspaper correspondents have re-
ceived permission to visit the tomb
much to the annoyance of Mr.. Carter.
Because of his contract with the Lon
, don Times he naturally resented the
visits of correspondents from rival
newspapers. He not only refused to
talk with me. but his various assist
ants refused to give me any informa-
tion about the tomb.
~
7 WAS told rather rudely that could
find all the information in the
London Times, and that if Mr.. Carter
had anything of Importance to impart
he would post it in the form of an
official communique in the Winter
Palace Hotel in Luxor
The barrier of silence even extend
ed to the famous Egyptologists who
have been cooperating with Mr.. Car
ter since the discovery of the tomb,
I met Prof Percy Newberry, who
has spent twenty-one winters at
Luxor.
"Of course, you realize can not give
you any information about the tomb"
he said iciIy. And before 1 could say
another word he bowed stif1y and
took his departure.
On the other hand, the Egyptian
officials both at Cairo and Luxor went
out of their way to give me every
facility for visiting the tomb and
placing all the information about it
in my possession. Their resentment
at Howard Carters attitude Of trying
10 keep the news Of his activities ex-
Clusively for one newspaper was OBJ
,vious The Governor of Luxor. Mo-
kammed Bey FANNY, was particularly
solicitous for my welfare, as was the
local inspector of monuments
When I obtained my pass to the
tomb I was not fully aware of the
strained relations between Mr.. Car
ter and the ministry of public works,
and ventured the remark that per-
haps his custodians would not honor
it on the pretext that the work could
not be interrupted
The tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen, as
we'll as every other tomb in the VAL
toy of the Kings. is the property OF
inc Egyptian government" 1 was in
formed. "Mr. Carter has no authority
to admit or bar any one without
permit from this department"
A few days later I discovered that
this was actually true. The ministry
Of public works refused to allow him
to show the tomb to the wives Of