MYSTERY MAN

Hokitika Guardian, 14 December 1929, Page 3

MYSTERY MAN

WHO FINANCED AFGHAN WAR? (By Cecil Rice in Daily Mail.) PESHAWAR, North-West Frontier, October 18. I have unearthed the mysterious financial expert who, from sources hiherto undiscovered, supplied Nadir Khan, the newly proclaimed King of Afghanistan, with the funds which enabled his final advance on Kabul, the capital, to 'be carried to a successful end. Peshawar city contains innumerable lanes, deep in mud and filth, each lined with tiny shops. Behind one of these thoroughfares—the word is a misnomer, for the crowds of striving Pathans, Kabulis, and tribesmen generally make progress almost impossible—a high wall extends for some 50 yards. There is one door in the massive structure, and if its keeper he persuaded to open the entrance then it is a simple matter to find the headquarters of Nadir Khan’s financial adviser. After climbing six flights of rickety stairs a landing is gained from which one room opens. LIKE A DRUG DEN.

It was here that the financial business connected with the Afgan campaign was completed. The room is barely furnished. There is neither tables nor chairs. The floor is covered with rush matting and so littered with hookahs [Eastern pipes] that the place resembles the den of a drug addict. Instead, it is the office of one of the cleverest financers in India. In a, corner by the balcony sat crosslegged when I arrived a revenue and expenditure expert. Dressed in a khaki uniform coat and flowing pantaloons which once were white, and wearing an azure-blue turban and a vivid red hunting-stock complete with gold pin, this mysterious character presented a picturesque appearance. He welcomed me warmly. Then he opened his heart. He was, he explained, the owner of many houses in Kabul. His income exceeded £3,000 a month. Times, however, were difficult. His cars had been destroyed by Baelia Sahcao (the defeated ex-Amir) and his houses used as barracks. Trade had been stagnant. Nadir Khan could save Afghanistan from ruin if he had mpfiey, hut how was this obtainable?

“STATE SECRETS.” Information, he told me, was valuable. Every day lie had sold “State secrets”- to Bacha’s agents here. He collected £7,500, and in five months increased the sum to £45,000. A close watch on events enabled him to select the moment when Nadir was most likely to succeed. When Nadir was at the lowest ebb financially he received, from his unknown benefactor the £45,000. The rest was comparatively easy. Armed with ample funds, Nadir reestablished himself, and now his campaign has been completed. My friend, whose features are almost cruelly keen, fixed me with his steel-blue eves. “I am justified,” he said. “I ousted the rebel. I may have lost my motor-cars and my property may be damaged and looted, hut T will go to Kabul and restore my lost fortunes.” SIGNS WITH HIS THUMB. Few people know the identity of this quaint recluse, yet it is he who ships regularly huge consignments of furs, carpets, and precious stones to the American and European markets. His bank balance to-day, “in hard times,” exceeds £3,000,000. His signature is a e|*oss, superinscrilied with the imprint of his thumb.