ALLIES DEMAND A SKULL.

Taihape Daily Times, 7 August 1919, Page 3

ALLIES DEMAND A SKULL.

Amongst ..the hundreds of clauses in the Treaty presented by the Allies 1:0 Germany are two of a particulariy futeresting and novel character. Within six months the Germans must return the skull of the Sultan M’kwafira., to the British Goveriment.

This skull is that of a native chief of German East Africa, Who I’or seven years defied the Germans, till, in 1898, rather than surrender he committed suicide. The Germans decapitated him and sent his head for exhibition to 9. Berlin museum. It was a brutal, unnecessary act, and Great Britain is determined that the natives shall have returned to them the head of their old chief.

Germany is also é'a.‘lled. upon to return the Koran of the Caliph Ofihman to the King of Hedjaz. This is one of the world’s most ancient literary treasures, dating back to 711 A.D. It ‘doubtless fell into ’the hands of the Turks when they capéured Medina in 1812.