IRAQ KING'S DEATH LEADS TO MURDER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 80, 5 April 1939, Page 11

IRAQ KING'S DEATH LEADS TO MURDER.

BRITISH CONSUL Agitators Incite Crowds Of Mourners. BRITISH BLAMED FOR TRAGEDY United Press Association.—Copyright. (Received 12 noon.) LONDON, April 4. King Ghazi of Iraq was killed in a motor accident, colliding with an electric pylon while driving his own car at high speed, at midnight, says the Bagdad correspondent of the Havas News Agency. His son, the Emir Feisal, aged three, is his heir. King Ghazi lay in state this afternoon. Traffic in the city was suspended. The King is being interred on Wednesday. King Ghazi's son was proclaimed Feisal 11. His uncle, Emir Abdul, was appointed- Regent. Mr. G. E. A. C. Monck-Mason, British Consul at Mosul, was assassinated by revolver shots during a demonstration after the news of King Ghazi's death. A mob rushed and set fire to the consulate. Martial law was declared in Mosul. An Independent Cable Service message from Bagdad says it is understood that agitators became worked up by mourners for the King, declaring that the British murdered him. The Iraq Premier called on the British Charge d'Affaires and expressed regret for the assassination. Four men were arrested and will be tried by a special Court.

Succeeding to the throne of Iraq six years ago on the death of hie father, King Feisal, King Ghazi was 27 years old. He was at school at Harrow, England, from 1923 to 1926. Long before he qualified 'by age to hold a motor car license he was an excellent driver, and had an intimate knowledge of car construction.

Debarred from using the roads because of his age, lie used to drive at Brooklanks. He was probably the youngest driver to use the famous track. An aviation enthusiast, he held a pilot's license, and recently, when he bought a fast British 'plane, he became the only reigning monarch in the world to pilot ihimeelf. When he returned from school in England he went through a course of training at the Bagdad Militarv School.