RIDDLE OF A SKULL

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXV, Issue 3261, 31 January 1931, Page 3

RIDDLE OF A SKULL

“NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.” Who remembers that the Treaty of Versailles, in Article 246, demands that Germany shall return the skull of the Sultan Mkwawa, and African chief?

This poser is put by Reuter's Berlin correspondent, who adds that the negro tribe, of which Mkwawa was the chief, believe that the skull has magical properties. This belief prompted the insertion in the Peace Treaty, under the heading of ‘ Special Provisions,” of the following:— “Germany will hand over to His Britannic Majesty's .Government the

skull of the Sultan Mkwawa, which was removed from the Protectorate of German East Africa and taken to Germany.” The six months provided for the delivery of the skull elapsed many years ago, and still it has not been handed over. Rumour has it that at one of the League of Nations, meetings a prominent British statesman reminded the late Dr. Stresemann of -the omission. Dr. Stresemann made inquiries and discovered that it was nowhere to be found in Germany, where, moreover it was regarded as a legend that had never existed in fact.

Meanwhile, the subjects of the late Sultan deplore the loss of their fetish and the Treaty of Versailles of necessity remains unfulfilled.