<^(^C^t^<^C^«^t^ls^<«^tdi^ EX-KING OF AFGHANISTAN he said. Indeed, the students of Kabul and Kandahar seemed likely to become international travellers. He visited Krupps, and ordered a new troop-carrying lorry. As an afterthought, he commanded it to be fitted with a body suitable for transporting school-children ! There was one hitch. The Socialists objected to the expenditure of money on his entertainment. Speeches were made asking what benefit could come from the so-lavish use of public funds. But Amanullah never heard that end of it. The usual £1000 was handed to the poor of Berlin. British official wireless to the East expanded itself, during these days, on the care taken in London for the plans for the coming visit. The telegraphs crackled with news of the decoration of the suite reserved for the Royal pair at Buckingham Palace, and again at Claridge's Hotel. The order of the procession, headed by King George and King Amanullah, followed by Queen Mary and Queen Souriya, was faithfully given to the great reading public of the East. Destroyers turned off their patrol course in mid- ocean and threshed their way to the Channel. The Fleet went home for inspection. Airplanes received their orders for the great day. London was garlanded, and maps made of the route to be taken by a young man, now thirty-eight, and his beautiful queen ten years younger than he. The public was even told of a half-million pound credit arranged for Amanullah between his country and the Continent and England. It was, rumour said, for his use when ordering French, German, and Italian goods. The rumour was promptly denied, but it was, as a fact, the first suggestion that such a course would be necessary at his present rate of progress. England waited on tiptoe for the first glimpse of a romantic 105