CRISIS IN SIAM

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19943, 30 October 1934, Page 4

CRISIS IN SIAM

1 PLANS TO DEFEAT THE KING 1 1 United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright LONDON. October 28. The private secretary of the King of Siam states that the King told the Regent that he intended to abdicate ten days ago. It is an ultimatum, because the Government can avoid the issue by droppingthe measures and submitting them to a plebiscite or election. King Prajadhipok, of Siam, who was born on November 8, 1893, succeeded to the throne on the death of his brother, Rama VI., in 1925. His Queen is Rambaibarni, wham he married in 1918. They have no children. The Government of Siam is an almost absolute monarchy, but the present King, who was educated in England, restored the Supreme Council of State, composed of five princes of government experience, to be advisory to the sovereign and to co-ordinate the work of the various ministries. There is a Legislative Council of Ministers and others, appointed by the King. Present membership is forty. It supervises the legislation of the Kingdom, being charged with the task of perfecting the statutes. Laws must be signed by the King. Siam attained full legal equality among the nations on March 25, 1927, when the last of the consular courts was closed, and two days later a new Customs tariff, controlled no longer by treaty limitations, went into effect.