PERSIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 14975, 22 April 1909, Page 6

PERSIA.

Persia is being permitted to pursue her destiny in her own way just now, but at any moment she may become a problem of importance to Europe. Fox* moro than a year the country has been in a state of anarchy. When, the Shah broke bis royal word and bombarded the Parliament Buildings in Teheran he secured for himself the certainty of a troubled reign. To-day there is scarcely a district outside Teheran where his word is law. If it were not for the money he receives from the Belgian-managed Customs and for the Cossack-drilled troops in tho capital, ho "would not ho able to carry on for a day. Anarchy reigns from Tabriz to the Persian Gulf. Every potty governor who has the courage sets himself up as a local "despot. “Nationalists” march through the country, spoiling as they go. Revolutionaries from the Caucasus have reached even the shores of the Persian Gulf. For the moment the fight Tagcs chiefly round Tabriz. All through the winter the revolutionists held the fort, whilo the Shah’s troops occupied the surrounding country. Again and again tho royal forces were defeated, hut tho revolutionaries, lacking cavalry and heavy guns, and poorly equipped as to transport services, were never able to turn a defeat into a rout. Tho Shah’s troops simply withdrew to a distance and gathered strength for a new attack. Ammunition and food supplies were smuggled iuto the town with difficulty when all the roads were blocked with snow, and now, it seems, the blockade is so comploto that the people are starving. The armistice that has just been arranged may be a preliminary towards an abiding peace, but sooner or later Russia and Britain will have to intervene. Russia has an excuse in that for twelve months her Caucasus provinces have been in a condition of unrest because of the fighting across the frontier. Britain has already been compelled to land marines in order to protect the property of her subjects at Bushire. And .yet the Powers must move cautiously. There is the standing lesson of Egypt to illustrate how easily a temporary occupation becomes permanent, and it would he manifestly difficult for the Russians to withdraw if ouco they were given the opportunity of governing Persia. The Shah seems to bo a weak despot, quite incapable of restoring order. Persia is a wealthy and fertile country, wofully mismanaged. A truly representative assembly might succeed in putting the administration on a sound footing, but even that is to bo doubted, and in any case the Shah is evidently determined that he will have no Parliament in the country to veto or modify bis despotic proclamations.