AFGHAN ROYALTIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20400, 5 May 1928, Page 11

AFGHAN ROYALTIES

ARRIVAL AT MOSCOW. CROWDS MARKEDLY SILENT. (United Press Association.) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) MOSCOW, May 3. (Received May 4, at 5.5 pm.) When King Amanullah’s party reached Moscow they were greeted with the following slogans: “We greet the oppressed colonial people of the East,” “long live the world proletarian revolution,” and ‘“Workers of the world unite! " The party travelled from the Polish frontier in the luxurious train formerly used by the Tsar, and they were welcomed at Moscow by a crowd of 10,000 and high Soviet officials correctly attired in formal style,. including M- Chicberin and 11. Litvinoff. ... Bands played, the Afghan anthem arid the Internationale, and ihe route towards Kremlin was thronged. The reception of the first monarch to visit Soviet Russia was not a complete success. -The crowds in the streets were markedly silent, reserving their cheers for the Soviet chiefs. When the sovereigns alighted at the station there was deadly silence, no one knowing exactly what to do. M. Kalinin, a former factory hand, then welcomed King Amanullah, while Queen Souriya was received by Madame Kalinin, a former peasant, who is being regarded as the first lady of Russia for eight days to enable the entertainment of the royalties to be easier. The Soviet authorities have also decided to call King Amanullah Shah instead of your Majesty, as was at first proposed. During the drive through the Moscow streets the King asked M. Kalinin why there was so many hawkers, and M. Kalinin explained that the hawkers in New Moscow were merchants, as private enterprise had been driven out.—Australian Press Association.