PRICE ON EX-SHAH'S HEAD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 32, 1 August 1911, Page 5

PRICE ON EX-SHAH'S HEAD

THE TROUBLE IN PERSIA. FRICTION OVER AN APPOINTMENT. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright. Received 31, 10 p.m. Teheran, July 31. Parliament has offered £20,000 for the capture of the ex-Shah, dead or alive. Smaller sums have been placed on the heads ol the ex-Shah's brothers, Salared, Owleh and Shuares. . The Government have appointed Major Stokes, of the Indian Army, to reorganise the troops. The appointment has occasioned surprise in Russian quarters. The Minister made urgent rep:v mentations against the appointment. '' persisted' in, Russia, he said, woul„ afcc other measures. A SUSPECTED LEADER. Writing of the situation in Persia on the occasion of one of the numerous Cabinet charges that have taken place during the last year, the Times' correspondent said: "Out of the tangle of divergent opinion only one distinct feature emerges—the active antagonism of a small number of militant Nationalists in the Mejliss towards the Sipahdar. . How this antagonism originated is difficult to say, but there seems ne doubt that the Sipahdar has become more and more the object of their detestation on the ground of his alleged pro-Russian tendencies, and repeated attempts have been made to separate him from Sedar Assad and oust him from Cabinet Probably, if the truth were known, many would be glad to see both the Sipahdar and Serdar Assad outside the Cabinet. But the group of militant Nationalists cannot rely upon a snatch division, with a majority in their favor which would bring about the downfall of these two Ministers, because of the fear entertained by the greater part of the Mejliss that their excursion from the Cabinet might very likely promote a disturbance and thus give grounds for the introduction of a Russian garrison in Teheran. The Nationalists think that, impatient of opposition and sensitive to criticism, the Sipahdar is too imbued wth the spirit of the ancient regime ever to make a satisfactory head of a Constitutional Government. . . . What Persia really wants at the present moment is a Cabinet of four or five square-headed, practical business men who will brush aside the airy cobweb of showy talk and vague aspirations and labor unremittingly at the dull routine of putting the finances in order and establishing on solid foundations an efficient system of government."