11 APRIL 1931, Page 30

Few members of the Indian Political Service have had varied

and unusual an experience as Sir Frederick O'Conno who records it very ably and modestly in On the Fron and Beyond (Murray, 15s.). He -made his reputation as Tibetan expert just in time to accompany the famous missio to Lhasa in 1904 ; he was trade agent in Tibet for a coup of years and then piloted the Tashi Lama round In After a journey round the world with a Sikkhnese prim; he was sent as consul to Persia, first at Seistan and then Shiraz, where in 1915 he was arrested by pro-German tri, men and kept for months in captivity. After the War became our Envoy in Nepal, and was in attendance on t Prince of Wales when he visited that remarkable independen kingdom in 1921. Sir Frederick writes well about Tib and Persia, without diverging unduly into politics. H makes it clear, for example, that our pre-War policy of dividin Persia into zones with Russia was a monstrous blunder, where by treating the Tibetans fairly we won their respect. T author is a keen spor,tsman, and his account of a tiger IIu in the Nepalese jungle is particularly interesting.

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