OBITUARY

Hokitika Guardian, 20 December 1933, Page 5

OBITUARY

RULER OF TIBET

DEATH OF DALAI LAMA.

(United Press Association —Bj ElectrW

Telegraph—Copyright)

(Received this day at- 10.45 a.in.)

(CALCUTTA, December: 19

A telegram from Thasa reports the death, on Sunday, of the Dalai Lama, the; ruler of Tibet, aged '6O yeans.

The Dalai Lama was the temporal head of Tibet, and shared spiritual hardship with Tashi Lama. He twice fled the country—from the Younghusband expedition in 1904 a»d the Chinese mission' in 1909,, and for a time took refuge .in British .India.

A successor by reincarnation will be selected from male infants born in Tibet during a short period after hits death. .

The Dalai Lama is the head'of flic Government, assisted by . a Council composed of a Prime Minister and nine councillors, of whom five are priests and four laymen. The country •is divided into four “lings,” each governed by a lama. Previously to the revolution of 1911-12 there were two Ambains, dr Chinese Residents at Lhasa, who represented the Chinese Government, and Chinese troops' were stationed at Lhasa, Shigatse, and Dingri. By the .Vnglo-Tibetan Conventions of 1890 and 1893. ■ Y,atung, in the Ohumbi valley, on the Indian-Tibct frontier, was opened for trade.

A British mission under Col. Younghi’isband -was dispatched during 1903 by the Indian Government to secure the observance of these Conventions. After considerable fighting Lhasa wa? reached on August 3. 1904, and a treaty was signed (September 7). In. February, 1910, some sensation was. caused bv the sudden departure of the Dalai Lama from Tibet on the ground' that hie power and security were menaced by the Chinese. He" crossed the frontier into India, where he- was received with due respect by the Government. On learning of his flight the Chinese Government deposed him by Imperial Edict.

In 1912 the Ghinese revolutionary movement resulted in the mutiny of the garrison at Lhasa, th e abdication of the' Amban, and the establishment of a Representative Council more or lees subordinate to the Provincial Government o'f Sze-Chuan. The Tibetans seized the occasion to risg against ’ the Chinese, and met with such success that in June the Dalai Lama was encouraged to return to Lhasa. In October 1913- .a confer^ifJe of Great Britain, China, and Tibet met at Simla in order to discuss the boundaries of Inner and Outer Tibet.