PERSIAN POLITICS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19009, 3 November 1923, Page 10

PERSIAN POLITICS

CAMPAIGN 01' REFORM. EDICT BY NEW PRIME MINISTER. Pr«» 'Association —By Telegraph— Copytl«« TEHERAN. October 51. In a proclamation issued by the Sardar Sepah (Riza Khan) on his assumption of the office of Prime Minister he says that, having by military means established order and security during the past three vears, the Government is now turning its attention to reform in other directions at the Shah’s summons.—Reuter. The dominating influence ki Persian politics of Riza Khan, formerly Minister of War, was emphasised by the Teheran correspondent of the Morning Post in a despatch written before the recent elections, which led to the downfall of the last Government. . One of the chief difficulties and dangers in the present situation is the absence of certainty as to where the Minister of War is leading the country, wrote the correspondent. It is even doubtful if the Persian Government itself is clear on this point, or, for the matter of that, the War Minister himself, whose ideas grow with every successful political manoeuvre. There can be no doubt that Riza Khan has no intention of limiting his horizon, and he will continue his torward policy until stopped by some force greater than his. The commanding figure of the War Minister is like a beam of light amid the surrounding obscurity of the rest of the Cabinet, which is doing its best by indecision and incapacity to bring the country to ruin. The War Minister has recently submitted to Parliament a Bill for compulsory service, and ho certainly intends to build up the Persian Army to such a strength as will ensure Persia the respect of her neighbours. That the country cannot afford a large army is a trifle, and according to Riza Khan, whom not even the Financial Adviser, l)r Millspaugh, can control, the money will have to be found even if all the Government Departments, with the sole exception of the Ministry of War, have to be closed down. At -present all attention is centred upon the elections. It is possible that many of the War Minister’s nominees will be returned as deputies in the new Mijliss. The electioneering campaign is developing into a duel, Riza Khan versus all the other political groups. It is too soon to forecast what the result will he, but should a large number of the War Minister’s candidates he returned the country will come under the complete control of the War Minister, and trill probably emerge from its present state of indecision and apathy into a hard crystalline form of the War Minister’s creation.