King Prajadhipok to Surrender Throne as Result of Dispute Over Royal Prerogative London, Oct. 28. ING Prajadhipok of Siam, at present living in close retirement with the Queen at Knowle Park, Cranleigh, Surrey, has decided to! abdicate to the Government at Bangkok following a' dispute over the Royal prerogative.
'No definite documents had yet been signed up to a late hour last night, according to information obtained by Reuter from the private secretary of the King, and it believed that a determined attempt will' be made to-day to persuade him to withdraw his decision.
The National Assembly recently passed Jaw amending the provision in the criminal code requiring the Royal Assent when a prisoner: was sentenced to death or to life imprisonment.
The King refused to sanction the law unless the opinion of the people on the matter was first obtained. His demand was refused, and he now feels that, being longer able to defend the rights and liberties of his people, it is useless for him to remain on the Throne.
It is learned officially that King Prajadhipok's decision to abdicate 15 nus as yet final.
Tne King expressed his intention to abdicate, but declared that, if the Government was prepared fo give way and bow to the will of the people as represented by the elected members of the National Assembly who voted against measures curtail his prerogative regarding death sentences, he was prepared to continue on the throne, Constitution of Assembly It should be noted that the National Assembly at Bangkok is not fully representative of the people, as half the members were nominated by the Prime Minister, General Phya Babel. This is stated to be the reason for the King's claim that the Proposed new law, which abrogates the Royat prerogative of assenting to sentence of death or life imprisonment, should be submitted to a referendum.
The present government possesses no outstanding leader, except possibly Bipul, the War Minister, whose attitude may solve the crisis, Should the King persist in his decision to abdicate, "a Council of Regency may be appointed, with a younger member of the Royal Family on the Throne, but the proclamation fof a Republic is thought to be most Likely, although most Glamese are royallits at heart Ascending the throne as the seventh King of the Chalert Dynasty in 1925, WKing Projadhipok, who Is 41 years of age, is very "popular with his Aubjects, and has emerged inseatehed from two revolutions.
Once Absolute Monarch For some years after his accession he was an absolute monarch, presiding over the Cabinet and the Supreme Council, unchecked Parliament, However, in. 1082, the 180th year of the Chakri Dynasty, the absolute powers which the Kings of Siam had enjoyed for century were swept away on the flood of the rising. spirit of democracy.
In June, during the absence of the King from the capital, a revolution broke out, origindting'in the Army and Navy, of which the avowed object was to establish a Constitutional government, Economic as well as political reasons combined to bring this ass. Siam, in company with the Test of the' world, was feeling the results of the economic crisis, and the thousands of Western educated Sinmese felt that the time had come when they should have a more direct voice in the conduct of affair During the absence of the King from the capital many of his Ministers were seized as hostages, and the King was faced with the choice of surrendering the powers enjoyed by his family for centuries, or plunging the country into a bloody:
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