ADVANCE ON TEHERAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14854, 4 December 1911, Page 7

ADVANCE ON TEHERAN.

RUSSIAN : TROOPS IN PERSIA.

THE : ULTIMATUM" REJECTED.

EX-GOVERNOR ASSASSINATED.

By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright.

Teheran, December 1. Persia has failed to :.! comply with Russia's " ultimatum demanding the dismissal of Mr. Morgan \ Sinister (Persian Treasurer-General), the payment of Russian costs, 'and a guarantee that Europeans' engaged in the Persian service' must be approved by the Russian and' British Legations.' ■''

Russia declining to extend the time limit of, her ultimatum, the Mejliss (National Council) rejected it, although Sir 'Edward Grey (British Secretary for Foreign'" Affairs) urgently, telegraphed ' advising Persia:, to comply. '.■■; > , ;>,'; ; :. •

Thereupon the Russian ■ troops at Resht. ,(a Persian ;. town ;,;„; about Al4 miles south-east of the Caspian Sea) were ordered to*advance on Teheran. The .; Persian Minister ■ for Foreign Affairs has resigned.

■ Three men, ' firing seven shots, killed Ala-ed-Dowleh, when leaving his residence at - Teheran. Ala was formerly Governor of Fars, a southwestern ;■; province of Persia. •;•,■ ■ Ala-ed-Dowleh was 'suspected of intriguing with the Sipahdar (one of the; leaders -of the revolutionary rabble that: captured Teheran ; in 1909) for the return of the abdicated Shah, Mahomed AH, father of the Shah: Ahmed Kajar (a; minor feigning under the regency of Nasr-ul-Mulk). --* .' ' • "',""' ;", \ ;; ./. , ' London, December, 1. Owing to the renewal of the Persian crisis, the House of Commons has i revived the., committee: that .was appointed 'under the chairmanship of Lord Lamington. •«- ■'■ - PLOT AGAINST MR. SHUSTER. ' (Received December 3,; 5.5 " p.m.) V; : * ,-.... ~;"'; Teheran, December 2. .•; :';■ A -bomb plot s against' Mr. Morgan ! Shuster, Treasurer-General .of J. Persia, has been discovered. A prisoner I alleges that M. Petroff, the Russian Vice-Consul/ bribed " him 'in July; to assassinate : Mr. Shuster. ■ •• - ,•'•■• "■■ RUSSIAN INTERESTS IN * NORTH \. ••"•:■" : • , PERSIA. . • ' * Russia 'had previously threatened;.:; if Persia pioycd obdurate, to enter into an occupation:. (which, the Tsar's Government , assures Sir Edward Grey, will be temporary)': of the Persian '-.j provinces of Ghilan ,; and Mazanderan. These :• provinces are situated oh' the shores 4 * off the Caspian Sea, the former adjoining Russian ■ Turkestan. ;» \ According ; to ■* the i new j edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, j Ghilan was an independent khanate until ! 1567, when it became Persian. In 1723 the reigning Shah, whose capital was ;»in, the hands of " the Afghans, | ceded Ghilan to Peter the Great, together j with Mazanderan , and other provinces, on condition that he. drove tho invaders out of Persia. It remained in Russian hands until 1734, when they .were < compelled to evacuate it. •■ The'trade of both Mazanderan; and; Ghilan -. is principally with ; Russia- Ghilan exportsV cattle and ■ rice; Mazenderan cavaire, i fruit, and raw cotton. ,"*' Both provinces export "valuable. timber. Ghilan has valuable -fisheries,- which are leased to a Russian firm. •";" ■ >' . ' , f By 'the; AnglOrßussian;, Convention of 1907, Britain and Russia agreed to-< respect the integrity and independence of Persia. ', Britain - undertook to seek no political or ' commercial concessions . north of a line connecting ,-=Kasr-i-Shirin,'; Ispahan. Ycz'd, and Khakh Jto the junction of the/Persian, Russian, and Afghan frontiers. i - Hence, no ; doubt, .' arises ;' Sir Edward I Grey's recently-reported? remark in the iHouse -ot Commons that while no reflection 'is cast on the. energy j or,- intentions of Mr. Morgan, Sinister•.- (the ; American man has . become Persia's .Treasurer. General), fhis ':<■ persistence in appointing British officials »inv North Persia "makes things impossible." :? ! The disinterested policy of this^ifinancial'reorganiser.in thus Anglicising what Britain; has practically declared is the Russian sphere of ■ influence is, therefore, a source.of embarrassment to' the British Government, whose moral support' 1 of- 1 Russia has been , ignored in Teheran. :' , Under ; the.: Convention ?of ~ 1907 Russia gives, .with.regard to South 'Persia, the same : assurance as Britain gives with regard to North. Persia—to seek ino political or commercial concession '; south of a lino from the Alfghan frontier to, Gazik Biriand, Kerman, and Bander Abbas.