<^t^<^t^<^fc^<<^C^^«^t^ AMANULLAH being weaned from its past of dull ignorance into the glorious future of emancipation and freedom. Corruption was being blotted out* Amanullah himself had stated that he was determined to rid his country of the canker at its heart. All was well. Another announcement stated that the Government cavalry force had been successful against rebel tribes at Ghirzal, on the Kabul to Gadez road, in the Altimar Pass* The rebellion, it was stated, had nothing to do with the new reforms. The Afghan legations were authorised to deny the rumours that objection to the new laws had been responsible for the rising. All was well. As if in contradiction, however, another item of news came out of Afghanistan. It was to the effect that Amanullah had made a speech on the painful subject of the costs of his tour in Europe. We have seen how liberal he was with the State funds in his gifts to the poor of the eleven capitals which he visited. We have seen the costly entourage which accompanied him. Yet in that speech, reported in all the newspapers of the world, Amanullah mentioned that the whole cost of the tour had not exceeded the sum of £15,000. . . . It is to be hoped that his importunate questioners were satisfied. It is to be hoped that the educational schemes he had introduced to the country, the unpleasant but doubtless beneficial improvements he had introduced, and the new ideals that now permeated the Government, were considered fully worth that sum. But an even more fanciful argument was to hand. If they wanted figures, they could have them. If they wanted justification for the trip, here it was. And Amanullah, warming to his work, told his astounded hearers that to set against that expenditure, he had received presents from various countries valued at the 198