On Monday night Mr. Morgan Shuster,•the late Treasurer- General of
Persia, spoke at a dinner given in his honour by the Persia Committee at the Savoy Hotel. Mr. Shuster described in detail the circumstances of his appointment by the Mejliss as Treasurer-General with "arbitrary and drastic control in fiscal matters," and also the series of difficulties which resulted in the Russian ultimatum demanding his dismissal. From a careful survey of these circumstances Mr. Shuster felt that one of two conclusions' must be drawn: " Either that the Russian and British Governments, and par- ticularly the former, in respect to the acts of its Consular officials in Persia, must have intended to pursue a policy calculated to destroy all hope of Persia's regeneration and up- building through the efforts of the people themselves, or those two Governments must have been continuously and grossly miainformed as to what was happening on the ground." That is Mr. Shuster's case, but we cannot accept either of his alternatives.
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