The Hawera Star. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1929. AMANULLAH OF AFGHANISTAN.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 1 February 1929, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1929. AMANULLAH OF AFGHANISTAN.

Delivered every evening by 6 o’clock in llawera. Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Alton, ITurlcyville, Patea, Waverley, Mokoia, Whakamara, Obangai, Meremere, Eraser Road, and Ararata.

The sudden disaster which hols over- 1 whelmed Anmnulla'h of Afghanistan i's one of the most extraordinary incidents' in the history of a country which hate ever been the home of the dramatic. He has paid dearly for the hoiste with which he introduced reforms after his | European tom - , and, as is so often the case with those who are too rash, the reaction has almost certainly put back the clock, instead of advancing it.' ■W(hein one remembers the. .sitato with which he recently travelled through Ithe countries of Europe, the receptions he was accorded, the. compliments he inspired, and the extent to which his friendship was courted, and compares the majesty of those days with the' circu mis tom ces wherein he is found- Ito-dary, it. is impossible- mot to read into his fate •a most effective sermon am the vanity of human grciatnclss. It is said that- it was the -example, set by the. Turkish dictator, Muisfapha Tvemal Pasha, that inspired l Ainianullah to the actions which have proved his 1 downfall. If so, he doubtless wanders .why, when Tvemal I wins sOi isucceteisfol, hei should have, so terribly failed. But the- explanation is not, far t-o seek. To reason that what would do. for Turkey and the Turks would, do. for Afghanistan’ and the Afghans 1 walsi' to 1 overlook the estsenltial differences between tine two. countries and the peoples who inhabit them. In thie first place there is the. difference: of situation, and the- effect of that difference upon 1 two vastly different peoples. Turkey ha,'s been for centuries 1 standing alt the- doorstep of the' West, and the charaic.teriisticis of Western civilisation have, all that time been known to her. Her people 1 have become l gradually familiar with, the' the very customs that Kemal has now imposed upon them, and that imposition merely

brought ■ something into 1 the house' which they had long .enough observed thronigb the window. The radical changes that had so affected the world around them l , as the, result of the Great War, had affected them, too and had made them dll the readier to aieeeipt the Westernisation.' which their leaid'er demanded. The Afghanis, on the other hand,'have never seen the West at close quarters; the wildness of their country hais kept them from a changing world. Into their cities', perhaps, some touch of modernism, 'had crept, but even there the leaven] wab little indeed, and that little, very munch suspect.. The mullahs ruled by virtue of their religious office, and the native fanaticism of the- people* fostered to the last extremity by theise holy men, hais once again proved sufficient, ais it hais so many timjels before, to prevent dll efforts of the' enlightened few to 'Overturn their changeless conservatism. Apart, moreover, from theise characteristic differenieels between the twio: nations, it is evident that there: is a great difference, ini hh Characters of the two meta who- have reispectively endeavoured to reform them. Kelmul Paishai hais' been for long the all-acknow-ledged leader of the ‘ ‘ new ’ ’ Tiurks, and the new Turks, as events showed, were not only in the majority, but also' possessed nearly all the) ability and initiative which was left to the Ottoman Empire after the conclusion’ of the war. But Am ami 11 ah was a ruler of lesser calibre;. Running where he should have walked, he tried to do at on'ce with a tough, unruly people what the Turkish leader had! done, only after infinite pains, with a pliant and wedl-governed one. As a result of his ardour as a reformer he, is uoi longer Icing, but merely one of the- contenders 1 for the throne.