WHEN I WAS OFFERED £35,000,000

Hokitika Guardian, 7 January 1928, Page 4

WHEN I WAS OFFERED £35,000,000

|..v LT.-COl.. r T. KTHICItTOX. (Formerly British Consul-General and Political Resident- in Turkestan.) A remarkable story nnkown to tbe world at large, lies; behind the announcement that tlie Emir of Bokhara lias despatched an envoy to Geneva with a. full statement to lie laid before tlie League of Nations regarding the tragic situation of lii.s State under Bolshevik government. The Bokharan ruler, Saiyid Alir Alain Khan, is about 48, was a majorgeneral in tlie old Russian Army, and an adie-de-camp to the Czar. He was a welcome figure at Petrograd in prear days, and ruled his people oil patriarchal bill just lines.

Bokhara the land of fair women and beautiful carpets, was the largest and richest native .State in Turkestan until the Bolsheviks descended upon it in August 1920. 1 knew that the young Bokharan Party, organised and financed by tbe .Bolsheviks, was preparing to hand over the Slat” to the latter, although the Soviet did not come in openly at this stage, as such action would have given Flieir claim ancipators of the East” an entirely false aspect. They iherefore arranged for the Y'oimg B'kbarnii Party In deliver the opening blow, and then joined in on a prearranged request being made b.v the revolutionaries for aid against the tyrannical Emir. Y\ lint was the motive? The Emir of Bokhara was cue of Em richest men in Asia, and his eolLvlion of jewels and precious stones was probably without- ail equal in the world. HE wealth totalled apoicximatelv toirtv-live million pounds sterling in gob! rnd silver coins and ingots. apart from t! ■’ iewellei y. lie iiad already * ■ f*, ■ r■ 1 d to mu ido it to orr care. r -, n!ising that tiie Bolsheviks were alter it and weald stick at nothing to- secure such a price for the advancement of their campaign for world revolution. ATcil eaver, lie. offered bis Ft ate to us to La incorporated unconditionally within the Empire. For several practical reasons we were unable to do as lie wished, hut the cfl'er was a remarkable testimony to British probity, and proved how high our credit stood even in the remote heart of Asia, ’[be sequel to it is that tbe Bolsheviks hastened their descent noon Bukhara and bagged the loot they were after. The treasure was kept in the vault l of the palace at B'.k’uiru, this inner or royal city bring known as the Ark. Til:' gates were en-mii at dryogiit ami close*! at sundown, and huge do »'

keepers, reminiscent * ♦ in Die ' ra’iiun Nights, kept watch din ing INo b.'Mirs of darkness. The Emir was | a methodical man. and Ihe treasury i was under his personal supervision, as well guarded as a jeweller’s strongWhrn the Bolsheviks descended in the night, bribery on a large scale

had done its work and the attack was a surprise. The Emir was warned in the nick of time, and he was actually passing the main gateway disguised as a carter when the vanguard of the Bolshevik levies rushed The Reds were assisted by an aeroplane, which terrified the people. f: r (ho vast majority had never even heard ol such a. thing. After apprising me of the clash, the Emir made his way into Afghanistan, and is at present living just outside Kabul, the Afghan rider having placed a house at his disposal. The Bolsheviks deported two of the l Bokharan Emir’s sons to Moscow, where they are being “educated, and more graduates from the propa- | ganda school at Tashkent, in Turkestan. have recently gone forth to spread the new gospel of Bolshevism among the tribes and races between Bokhara and the Indian frontier. Special ntention is to be paid to India as a counter-stroke' to the failure of Soviet designs in the Yangtsc Valiev.