A NEW JOY IN LIFE.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 224, 21 September 1929, Page 7 (Supplement)

A NEW JOY IN LIFE.

'I PREFER PARIS TO A THRONE' AN EX-SHAH'S exploits. BUSY SPINNING THE COIN OF CHANCE. "All ray life I have been wishing to live undisturbed in Paris as a common citizen and now tliat my ambition is realised I have not the slightest intention of giving up my comfortable existence," said the ex-King of Kings and Shadow of God upon Earth, His Majesty Ahmad Kadsjar, former Shah of Persia, when I visited him in his luxurious villa on the outskirts of Paris at Ruei!, states a special correspondent in relating an interview with the dethroned monarch.

Asked if lie ever expected to return to Persia, the ex-Shali shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows?" he said. "My life is in the hands of Allah. Allah is merciful. He has led me through the valley of shadows these last few years and I did not complain. Now lam happy again and I will not tempt fate. I propose to devote myself to philosophy and finance. It is an agreeable pastime, which suits my temperament. "Some of my former subjects might think that it is unworthy of a ruler to engage in business, but I think otherwise. Finance has given me a new zest and joy of life. I claim the right to live my own life. I never wanted to rule. Birth and circumstances placed me in my former exalted position. j make no "secret that my life in Persia was one of spiritual lack. People were kept at a great distance from me. They never told me the truth. All flattered me. Finally I could stand it no longer and I came to Paris. After one week in this city I made up my mind never to return. "I carry no bitterness in my heart to anybody. My successor on the imperial throne of Persia has my entire good wishes for his personal happiness and the welfare of the people. He is a man of great initiative and courage, who deserves the confidence that the great powers have placed in him. "Rumours of my intending armed interference in Persia are ridiculous. I want no bloodshed, nor violence. The sage considers these things as. unworthy of himself and lam no barbarian. I am happy hero in Paris. Why should I go back? Allah is merciful!" Won a Fortune. The ex-Shah is once again a wealthy man. Good fortune came back to him to the tune of 50,000,000 francs through | lucky speculations on the Paris Stock Exchange. His gambling operations netted him 35.000,000 francs during the month of May, and as his luck held out in June, he "has now fully recuperated from the pessimism in which four years of poverty and semi-starvation in a little perfume shop on the Eue Viviennc had plunged him. The perfume shop has been sold. All the ex-Shah's,, creditors have been satisfied and he has that fine old mansion at

Rueil. A staff of lackeys and flunkeys has been hired and many his old friends and fellow Persian exiles have joined him to play the role of courtiers. Each day the Shah drives out in an expensive limousine for a conference with his brokers, for he is keeping up his financial transactions. The operation for chronic appendicitis that he underwent recently and for which he had not the necessary money for several years has left no evil effects, so that he is able to take up the old life of host and entertainer in the gay establishments of Montmartre. Knew Poverty. Ahmad Kadsjar came to Paris years ago on a state visit. He lingered so long that his subjects and Ministers at home grew alarmed, and deputation upon deputation was sent out to fetch him home and convince him that his presence in his country was imperative if he wanted to retain his seat on the Peacock throne. The Shah promised each time that he would break with Paris in another month. The situation at home became desperate, a revolution broke out, and a former stable boy seized power, afterward proclaiming himself successor to the absent Shah. Ahmad Kadsjar acquiesced in the turnover with Oriental fatalism. He threw

himself with redoubled fury into the gaiety of the French capital, until the treasure and money that he had brought along ran out and he was forced to open a small perfume shop to make a living. This was four years ago. Since that time he has eked out a miserable existence. Deserted by all his friends and retainers, he had to beg off a bailiff's sale of his shop two years ago. The French Government intervened and assured him a peaceful stay in the tiny shop- on the Rue Yivienne, no bigger than a mere hole in the wa.ll. On May 23 the Shah put up the shutters on his shop and did not return. A few days afterward a poster was affixed to the wall saying that the place was for sale. Ahmad Kadsjar appeared in Montmartre again and took up his old habits of painting the town red. Hi? friends returned, new ones joined the party. When he decided to have the long-deferred operation performed in a private clinic on the Rue Piccini he , made his entry in the hospital like a monarch surrounded by a retinue of friends. After his recovery he purchased the Rucil mansion and installed himself amid luxury and comforts. j ("Star" and Anglo-American N.S. j Copyright.)