NEW ZEALANDER IN PERSIA.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 51, 29 February 1916, Page 5

NEW ZEALANDER IN PERSIA.

DRIVEN OUT BY HUNS. INTRIGUE AND MACHINATIONS. WOMAN'S ASTOUNDING STORY. (Received 9.30 a.m.) SYDNEY, this day. Mies Stuart, daughter of the late Bahop Stuart (formerly of "Waiapu, New Zealand, and latterly head of the Church Missionary Society at Ispahan), has arrived here after twenty-one year* spent in Persia. She tells" a remarkable story of German intrigue; 'and the machinations that .eauseH her to leave. The Persians, she,'says, are absolutely friendly, but the German propaganda is taking effect, and unless the Russians are abjc to send a strong force to restore order the country might, owing to this propaganda, and the .work of democratic revolutionaries, be found in the throes of internecine strife to Germany's advantage. - t ■ The irruption of the Germans into Persia was so rapid and well planned that it was undoubtedly part of a prearranged programme. Before the war there was scarcely., a German in tin country, bat since the. war .-it had been overrun by them, and they were sowing dissension everywhere. ■ The first Ge> man who arrived was. supposed, to bo interested in carpets. He was suave, and his pockets were bulging with English gold, which he spent lavishly. was the pioneer of a brigade of spies. India was the real 'objective of the German activity in Persia. ' ' The native Press was controlled by the Germans, and the Shah, who was .;i mere-boy* was a puppet in the hands of the Government, .-although lie was friendly to the ' Ispahan was evacuated by the British :and- Russian subjects in September, owing to trouble fomented by the Germans, -who were responsible for the assassination of the head of the Russian bank' and the attempt on the British Consul. Most of rt-he trouble wae fomented in Southern Persia. The English; Russian and French residents in Yezd were having an uncomfortable time, and "tidings of them were anxiously awaited. At Teheran everything was quiit, although the Swedieh officers of the .gendarmerie were 6iispcej);ed of pro<-Germanism. We at Herman, eaid Miss Stuart, received ,word at the end of December to seek a safe abode. Twenty-three British subjects, the Russian Consul, cix Cossacks, and twenty Armenians journeyed to the coast on mules, camels, and donkeye. We were escorted by eeventy-five troops. We took twenty-five days to reach Bundar-Abhas, where we caught a transport for Bombay." : .