desirable had been omitted. Several new Bills were announced, but various reasons had made it desirable to postpone the completion of the work preparatory to an invalidity and old-age insurance Bill. The Committee on that subject, however, was expected soon to terminate its labours.

On the Budget for the next financial year the total expenditure amounted to 128,542,000 kroner (7,141,2007.), of which 119,550,000 kroner (6,641,6007.) were ordinary and 8,992,000 kroner (499,6007.) extraordinary expenses. Of the latter sum 6,500,000 kroner (361,000l.) were to be applied to railway construction and the balance to new telephone lines and rolling stock for the railway; 6,000,000 kroner of this sum it was proposed to cover by a State loan. The extraordinary Budget was 2,300,000 kroner and the ordinary 7,950,000 kroner higher than the respective Budgets for the current year. The increase in the expenditure was largely owing to the coming into force of the Act establishing sickness insurance, and to the new arrangements respecting the Army.

The balance sheet for the year 1909-10 which was laid before the Council of State the last day in the old year, showed a surplus of rather more than 8,000,000 kroner, but as the expenditure also had exceeded the Estimates by some 2,000,000 kroner the actual net surplus was 6,143,000 kroner, which was 1,143,000 kroner above the amount allotted by the Storthing to military purposes and a possible re-arrangement of the malt tax. The cash in hand of the Exchequer on November 15 amounted to 28,000,000 kroner, the highest amount hitherto reached.

The debate on the Speech from the Throne in Norway does not generally take place until some time after the opening of the Storthing, and it was not till after the middle of February that it commenced. The Konow Ministry, which seemed to have lost favour during the preceding months, on the whole acquitted itself creditably and improved its position. The Opposition lacked method in its attacks, which had little effect. M. Irgens, the Foreign Minister, in answer to a question, stated that Norway, though the contrary had been stated by foreign journals, had not entered a protest against the Russian measure relating to the alteration of territorial frontier at the White Sea (p. 358). The Ministry in the meantime was awaiting further developments.

Three days later (February 24) the Odelsthing passed the Government measure abolishing the special rights of Russian fishermen in Finmarken. M. Irgens laid special stress upon the friendly relations which for many centuries had existed between Norway and Russia, and pointed out that Russia was the first Power to acknowledge Norway's new international position in 1905, and the negotiations about the treaty of integrity in 1907 (A. R., 1907, p. 373), which forms a new basis for the political relations between the two countries, were also characterised by

friendly and neighbourly feelings. All rumours about hostile sentiments between the two countries were false, but they naturally both tried to improve the conditions and the development of their adjacent districts in the north.

On March 3 the Storthing unanimously adopted an amendment in the Constitution to the effect that diplomatic matters and certain questions of military command, which it has been decided to keep secret, should be laid before a committee of nine members elected from the Odelsthing, and that such matters might be brought before the Odelsthing, on the motion of any member of the Committee.

The question of State purchase of waterfalls and other matters connected with water power and the regulation of rivers and lakes engrossed much of the time of the Storthing. M. Bratlie (March 3) reviewed the State purchases of waterfalls; generally an annual vote of 100,000 kroner had been granted for this purpose, but in 1910 only 50,000 kroner was voted; so far the State had bought twenty-one waterfalls, some of which, in his opinion, were much too small for State purposes; the State ought only to buy large waterfalls, preferably of not less than 20,000 horse-power. The vote for 100,000 kroner was unanimously passed.

A historic event took place in the Storthing in March. M. Bratlie, the President, on March 15 took a fortnight's official leave of absence, and his deputy as a member of the Storthing, Mlle. Anna Rogstad, took his place meanwhile. She took her seat on March 17, the House being full and the galleries crowded. The Acting President, the assembly rising, made a speech, saying that this would be a day of mark in the history of Norway; he felt sure that hereafter it would be more and more realised that the reform giving women political suffrage and eligibility for office would make for the welfare and honour of the nation, and benefit its political development. The Premier and numerous members then came up to welcome Mlle. Rogstad. Within a few days she made her maiden speech in the House, on a Social-Democratic motion for the reduction of military expenditure. She said that although she was an advocate of peace and arbitration and hoped war might some day become a thing of the past, she could not vote against ordinary Army Estimates designed for self-defence. She had confidence in the Government and the Military Committee that the proposed votes were not higher than was needful.

On April 1 it was decided in a Council of State to introduce in the Storthing a measure enacting compulsory civil marriage in accordance with the proposal of the Church Committee; and in the same body on April 28, it was decided to introduce a bill authorising the Government to contract a new State loan of 60,000,000 kroner.

The Storthing the same day disposed of the Naval Estimates, which amounted to 5,694,160 kroner, or 100,000 kroner less than

proposed by the Military Committee. The vote for a new ironclad, which was not included in the original Government proposal, was negatived, the grant voted comprising first instalments towards a destroyer and three submarines.

The question of taxation of corn brandy has at times given considerable trouble. The total abstinence party has waged war against the home distillers with disastrous results to the latter; at the same time the imports of foreign spirits have risen in the course of two years from 6,400 litres to 2,246,000 litres. The Government had succeeded in arranging for an increase in the duty on foreign spirits by alterations in the treaty with France, but the Storthing, at a secret sitting on May 8, rejected the increase by 64 to 55.

The Bill dealing with the regulation of rivers and lakes occupied much time during May, June and July, and at one time seriously threatened the position of the Government. Finally, on July 21, the Odelsthing, nine Conservatives opposing, accepted the Radical amendments, which the Lagthing had inserted in the proposal by a majority of one, and which the Government then advised not to accept without however making it an absolute question of confidence, for an inferior measure was considered better than none. The members of the Government were all present, but did not join in the debate. Its position was considered much shaken, but there was no sign that it contemplated voluntary resignation.

On August 3 the Storthing, by 91 to 28, decided to fix the reserve fund of the Exchequer by a provision in the Constitution. On August 8 the Storthing negatived by 70 to 50 a proposal to amend the Constitution so as to make Ministers eligible for election to the Storthing. The Premier and his supporters generally recommended the proposal. On August 10 a proposal for general women's suffrage, which would have meant an increase of some 250,000 female votes, failed of success in the Storthing; the voting was 73 for to 43 against, but a two-thirds majority was requisite. On August 17 the Storthing rejected the various proposals to amend the Constitution by the introduction of a referendum, which were supported by a number of members, varying from 48

At the conclusion of the meeting the President announced that the great labour conflict had been compromised-both he himself, the Vice-President, and other members of the Storthing having worked very hard to bring about an agreement.

The session closed on August 19, three weeks later than in 1910. On the whole the Government and its supporters had worked well together, whilst the Opposition had little cause for self-congratulation; some fairly strenuous legislative work had been got through, and the Budget, with trifling exceptions, was passed as proposed by the Government, the ordinary Budget balancing at 119,410,000 kroner (6,633,8801.).

The day before the close of the session it was decided, in a

Council of State, to propose a number of alterations in the Constitution. Women were to be eligible as Ministers of State (members of the Council of State or Government), with the limitation that husband and wife, parents and children or two brothers or sisters could not be Ministers at the same time. The Crown was to be accorded the power of summarily dismissing clergymen from their office; Ministers in office were to be eligible to the Storthing, both within or outside their own constituencies, but without the right to meet as members as long as they were Ministers. Besides some other points the last clause referred to the introduction of the right to dissolve the Storthing.

CHAPTER V.

SOUTHERN ASIA.

I. PERSIA.

THE review of the general state of Persia given in the ANNUAL REGISTER for 1910 (p. 381) might be repeated almost in its entirety for 1911. Things can hardly be said to have gone from bad to worse, simply because they were then almost as bad as they could be. In no part of the country has there been any real restoration of order, and the declarations of the Persian Government as to what had been, or was going to be done to secure the safety of the trade route from Bushire to Shiraz and Ispahan ended in nothing. Four squadrons of the Central Indian Horse were sent in the autumn to strengthen the Consular Guards along that road and they may probably assist in the work of patrolling it.

The northern part of Persia was the scene of the greatest trouble. In July the ex-Shah Mahomed Ali landed on the Persian shore of the Caspian Sea near Astrabad and raised a force of Turcomans and Kurds, with which he advanced, after some temporary successes, to within a hundred miles of Teheran. He was defeated by the Bakhtiaris and their allies and driven back to Astrabad. It does not appear that the forces on either side were animated by any real enthusiasm either for the Shah or for the new Government; the whole affair was little more than a fight between hostile tribes. It was believed in Teheran that the exShah's expedition was instigated by Russia, but on December 14 Sir Edward Grey stated (p. 284) that, whilst neither the British nor the Russian Governments would interfere in the struggle, they were both agreed that the restoration of the late Shah would be undesirable.

What brought Russia into collision with the Persian Government was the action of Mr. Morgan Shuster, the Financial Adviser, an American citizen recommended unofficially by the President of

the United States to assist the Persian Government in putting its finances in order. His energy and ability did not permit him to confine himself to his own proper work; he organised a force of some 10,000 men under the name of the Treasury Gendarmerie, and in spite of the strong remonstrances of the British Government he appointed to it as officers Major Stokes and other British subjects who were believed at St. Petersburg to entertain strong anti-Russian sentiments, and sent them into Northern Persia to collect taxes within the admitted sphere of Russian influence. The incident which brought him into actual collision with Russia occurred, however, at Teheran. The Mejliss had declared confiscated the property of Shua-es-Sultanah, who had joined his brother the ex-Shah. On going to seize it (early in November) the Treasury Gendarmerie found it in the possession of a Russian Consular Guard who claimed to hold it on the ground that it was mortgaged to Russian subjects. The Consular Guard was dispossessed by force, an act which Russia regarded as a grave insult and sent a peremptory demand for an apology. Yielding to superior force and to the urgent advice of the British Government the apology was made by the Foreign Minister in full uniform. It was, however, felt by Russia that the state of things in Northern Persia must be put on a sound footing for the future; it therefore sent a further ultimatum to Persia, the three points of which were stated by Sir Edward Grey in his speech already quoted to be these: (1) the Persian Government should replace Mr. Shuster by another Financial Adviser; (2) in its appointment of any foreign advisers the Persian Government should consult the British and Russian Ministers; (3) Persia should pay an indemnity to cover the cost incurred by Russia in sending troops into Northern Persia to restore order.

Sir Edward Grey informed the House that he had been in full and free communication with the Russian Government; he considered the first two points in the ultimatum reasonable, but he had pointed out to Russia that Persia was at present quite unable to pay any indemnity, and that to extort even a promise of future payment would seriously embarrass Persian finances. He had every hope that a satisfactory settlement would be reached. The Mejliss passed resolutions rejecting the Russian demands, but its resistance went no farther than words. It was dissolved by the Regent on December 25, and the Persian Government then accepted the Russian terms, and Mr. Shuster was dismissed. At this juncture there occurred an outbreak of a very serious nature in Northern Persia, and the Russian troops which had been sent to enforce the ultimatum were attacked at Tabriz, Resht, and Enzeli not by any organised Persian force or even by a national rising, but by disorderly bands of local tribesmen. Strong reinforcements were sent, Tabriz was occupied and placed under a Russian military governor, and the ringleaders in the attacks were

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