Some few months ago a tribal [chieftain on the North-West Fron ier of India paid heavy fine, in fioted because of his misdeeds, in perfectly good British sovereigns of war-time minting. In the present troubles needy tribesmen have been found in possession of similar gold coin which.also can be purchased with no great difficulty in bazaars of cities like Rawalpindi, Peshawar Jand Kohat. Many theories have [been advanced to explain this currency eccentricity.. The one most generally accepted is based on the knowledge that millions of gold sovereigns, minted in 1916 and 1917, }were used for payments to Russia in furtherance of the military operations which disastrously ended with the treaty of Brest-Litovsk. It is Met suggested that these sovereigns have necessarily found their way back to British territory solely by [the operation of commercial activities. There is, of course, a recogniz-Jable trade Tink between Peshawar Jand Central Asia, but trade in Russian hands covers, like charity, multitude of sins.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.