Evening star., 1928-11-25

tiers submitted to it by the government" !"
The premier is to be president OF the
council, which shall further include
the presidents of the Senate and the
Chamber of Deputies, the ministers, the
commander of the militia, and various
undcrsecretaries and representatives Of
the considerations of workers, farmers
and industrialists."
Meetings are to be secret, and the
members to serve without pay. No
member of the Grand Council may be
arrested or otherwise subjected to penal
procedure without authorization by the
Grand Council The council shall CON
slider questions of constitutional char
acter," such as proposed laws relating
to SUGGESTIONS to the throne, royal pre-
negatives, the composition and functions
of the council the Senate and the
Chamber relations between church and
state, international treaties and any
change in the territory Of the nation" 3"
~ 4
Afghanistan.-I dispatches are to be
believed, the .Ameer of Afghanistan Is
bustling himself with a vengeance to-
ward Westernization of his country.
These dispatches report as follows: Road
and bridge making proceeds vigorously.
A north and south railroad Is to be built
partly by French, partly by German
conceSsionaries. The telegraph and
telephone systems are to be extended
so as to connect across the frontiers.
Colleges are being built at Kabul and
Kandahar, and elsewhere staff college.
Military officers are being sent to
sundry European countries, to study
and observe. An air department has
been created, airdromes are being built
and airplanes being purchased. The
foreign ministry Is being reorganized on
European lines. A dozen or so young
men are to go to Baku to study the
business of oil from top to bottom and
! several score more are being sent to
European factories of various sorts. The
ministry of finance Is to engage for
eign expert as adviser. This is going
! some"
~ *
China.-Late reports tell of twelve
million persons in nine provinces of
China suffering from famine, with near
| certainty of increase of the total to
twenty millions before Spring. Honan,
with three millions starving, is said to
! be hardest hit: next, Shensi; Shantung,
third The famous Coal Hill within the
imperial city of Peking. from which the
| public have been excluded since the
| Time OF the CnH0 Ming emperor, is Dein9
made public park by the Nationalist
authorities. Since establishment of the
republic it has been used as a military
reservation. 1t Is one of three small
hills made from soil removed from the
incloSure of the Winter palace when an
artificial lake was created there in the
early days Of the Mings. It was on top
of Coal Hill that the last Ming Emperor
hanged himself, as, gazing therefrom, he
saw the leading element of the invading
Manchurian cavalry enter the gates OF
the Imperial City.
Mel Shan. or Goal HILL" got its pres
ent name through mistake. It's orig
inal name was Beautiful HILL" but
the Chinese character for beautiful
very closely resembling the character
for coal" pronounced meD, the for
eigners in the town in error read 1t as
mel" The Chinese, amused, adopted
the erroneous reading In time there
grew up a popular legend to the effect
that under the hill was huge quantity
of coal laid up there by ancient rulers
against the possibility of siege.
| X v
Abyssinia.-Those who have read that
delightful book, old James Bruce's
Travels to Discover the Source of the
Nile " wiiI recall how a main feature Of