KING OF AFGHANISTAN.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 26 March 1928, Page 9

KING OF AFGHANISTAN.

VISIT TO OXFORD. UNIVERSITY FOR KABUL. (By Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 23. The King and Queen of Afghanistan motored to-day to Oxford, where the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law was conferred upon Amaiiiullah with traditional ceremony. The proceedings were conducted, as usual, entirely in Latin. He and Queen Souriya were •entertained to luncheon by Lord Birkenhead, High Steward of the University, an the absence, through illness, of Viscount Cave, Chancellor of the University. _ Lord Birkenhead made an interesting announcement. He said: “It as, I believe, the ; purpose of King Amanuilah to found a university dn Kabul, to be the centre of culture and learning in that part of Asia, and so revive the glories of the wonderful past. More than 1000 years ago there; flourished near the; shores of Oxus, in Northern Afghanistan, the world-famed university of Bactria. History relates that this illustrious city of learning was razed to the ground by the all-destroy-ing Jangbiz Kahn, worlcl conqueror, ruthless and unpitying. We at Oxford shall follow the execution of Amanul--1 ah’s illuminating conception with warm sympathy and l -interest. If. may even be that’ the Queen of Afghanistan’s brother, who is here among us today as an undergraduate, may live to become the first Vice-Chancellor of this university. It is not easy for us in twentieth-century England to realise what deep-seated difficulties King A man ull ah has been caFed on to face, and has steadfastly confronted to promote the cause of learning in his faraway home.”