GERMAN INTRIGUE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2708, 1 March 1916, Page 5

GERMAN INTRIGUE

IN PERSIA INDIA THE REAL OBJECTIVE By Telegraph— Association—Copyright Sydney, February 29. Miss Stuart, daughter of the _ late Bishop Stuart, formerly of AYaiapu, and latterly head of the Church Missionary Society at Ispahan, has arrived here, after 21 years in Persia, Miss Stuart tolls a remarkable story of German intrigue, their inachinations i causing them to leave. The Persian's, she says, are absolutely friendly, but the Gorman propaganda, including democratic revolutionaries, is taking effect. Unless the Russians are-able to send a strong force to restore order, the country might be found in tho throes of in-, ternecine strife, to Germany's advantage. The irruption of Germans in Persia was so rapid and well planned that it was undoubtedly part of a'pre* arranged programme. Before the war there was scarcely a Gorman in the country; since it has been overrun, and they are sowing dissension everywhere. The first German who arrived was supposedly interested in carpets. Ho was suave, and liis pockets were bulging with English gold, which ho spent lavislily. Ho was tho juonecr of a brigade of spies. Ipdia is the real objective of the German- activity in Persia. The Native Press is controlled by Germans. The Shall is a mere boy, and is a puppet in tlie hands of the Government, although he is friendly to the Allies. Ispahan was evacuated by tlie British and Russian subjects in September, owing to trouble fomented by Germans/ who were responsible for the assassination of tho head of the Russian Bank, and the attempt on the life of the British Consul. Most of tlie trouble is fomented in Southern Persia, tlie Allied residents at Yezd having an uncomfortable time. Tidings of them are anxiously awaited. At Teheran everything was quiet, although tho Swedish officers of the gendarmerie aro suspected of pro-Germanism. .Wo at Kerman received word at the end of December to seek a safer abode. Twenty-tliree British subjects, tho Russiart Consul, six Cossacks, and twenty Armenians journeyed to the coast with the aid of mules, camels, and donkeys, and were escorted by 75 troops. It took 25 days to reach Bundar Abbas, where we caught a transport to Bombay.