THE PERSIAN BOUNDARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2690, 4 October 1905, Page 27

THE PERSIAN BOUNDARY.

i WORK OF THE BRITISH COiDIISf SION. LONDON, September 29. The British Commission, which wai appointed in- 1903 under the leadership of Colonel M'Mahon to arrange a boundary dispute which had arisen between the Persian Seistan and the Afghan Peistan owing to a constant change in the bed of the River , Helmand, has completed its labour. The narrative of the mission is palpitating with interest. The Afghans were friendly and helpful, but, owing to the strength of Russian influence, intrigue, and misrepresentation' of the object of the mission, there was, considerable delay through obstruction by thft Persian Seistan. At the outset riots were organised, but failed, and the flogging of the ringleaders, including the majority of the Rxissian agents, astonished and impressed, th& Persians. The work continued amid a series' of -perils and privations 1 , caused by. the heat and cold, the waterless, desert in the south, and marshes, inundations, and' blizzards in the north. The native escort lost eight members through heat and thirst, four by drowning, three by frost, one by hydrophobia, and 34 by disease. Forty-nine camel? and 120 horses succumbed, .48 of the camels dying from hydrophobia, due to a mad wolf's attack. Mad jackals also abounded. The tTward, which has been accepted by both skies, overruled the Afghan claim to the new and more wesledy bed of the River Hei' mand, thus confirming the Goldsmid line, which recognised the old bed as the fron tier, in accordance with the Persian con tention.- The boundary fixed will continue, irrespective of changes in the course of the river. Misstatements regarding the award have appeared in the Persian newspapers. ' Reuter says that, thanks to Colone! M'Mahon's tact and determination, tht Russian and British positions of influence in the Persian Seistan have been reversed, the impartiality of the award has proved a blow to Russian prestige. -The Russian Consul has been withdrawn for failing t' frustrate the mission.