The French government has not failed to take advantage of the Shah's visit to do a little business with his Majesty's Ministers. It had already been decided to buy a house and grounds at Bushire, and the contract has now been duly ratified by the Persian Prime Minister, so that the new French Consulate at Bushire is virtually an established fact. The first Consul is to be Mr. Henri Bryois, who, it will be remembered, spent some time' in Shanghai about ten years ago on mysterious journalistic mission. He will shortly Jeave Paris to take up his new post. The creation of this Consulate, coupled with the recent acquisition of a coaling-station at Muscat, shows how determined France is to obtain a footing on the Persian Gulf.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.