MORE ARRESTS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 53, Issue 133, 17 March 1933, Page 5

MORE ARRESTS

BRITISH REPRESENTATION. CONTENTION BY THE SOVIET. RIGHT OF SOVEREIGNTY. (United Press Association—Copyright). (Received This Day, 11.20 a.m.) MOSCOW, March 16. The British Ambassador (Sir Esmond Ovcy) conferred with the Commissar of Foreign Affairs (M. Litvinoff) for 90 minutes, and'informed'hi mof the British Government's view that there was no justification for the charges on which the arrests of British employees of the Vickers Company had been made. It is understood that M. Litvinoff replied that the Soviet's actions were based on the ground that each Government' had the sovereign right to deal with people living in its territory. , ISir Ovey did not demand the immediate release of the Britons, but implied that release was a necessary means of straightening Anglo-Soviet relations. DISREGARDING THE DECISIONS. NEWSPAPER'S STRAIGHT TALK. (Received This Day, 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, March 16. The "Daily Express" says: "While Mr Mae Donald is weaving webs at Geneva, the Soviet is treating British subjects as no other nation has before dared. It contemptuously and insolently disregards the decencies of international relations. Mr Mae Donald must re.turn from Europe, which is no concern of ours, and teach Russia that we won't submit to the maltreatment of our nationals by a ban on Russian trading."

CHARGES OF SABOTAGE. LONDON, March 16. It has been officially announced in Moscow that nine more employees of Metropolitan Viclcers' have been arrested and charged with sabotage. All are' Russians, and six of them are women. Those-arrested now total forty. '■.'.••;• The c 'News Chronicle" has been informed that the defence of those arrested will be entrusted to a Russian advocate, officially appointed, English counsel not being allowed to appear. "The Times" says: "The ■ Government's representations to the Soviet 'cannot be'too strong. It is intolerable that British subjects working in Russia, executing contracts with the .Soviet Government,'should be included among the victims of the hunt for scapegoats for the miscalculations and imismanagement of the Soviet authorities.*';. ••.'»■'•■'.

"NO MERCY FOR OUR ENEMIES." OUTBURST IN SOVIET PRESS. LONDON, March 18. The Moscow correspondent of "The Manchester Guardian" says: An editorial in "Pravda," headed "No mercy for our- enemies," assumes before the trial, that the charges against the Englishmen are well-founded, though foreign correspondents are forbidden to comment on the ease, as it is subjudice. EARLIER ADVENTURE. 1 FORMER RESIDENT OF TARANAKI. Mr Allan Monkhouse, one of the first four of the English engineers be arrested in Moscow, and also the first to be released on parole, at one time lived in Stratford, Taranaki. He was a son of Mr W. Monkhouse, who bought a farm at Tahora for him. Mr Allan Monkhouse disliked farming, however, and sold the farm. His recent imprisonment was not his first unpleasant experience in Russia, for he Avas in Moscow at the time of the revolution, and with several companions tramped across Siberia in the early days of the Bolshevik regime. The trip took many weeks, the party eventually arriving at Vladivostok. After a great deal ot difficulty thev reached Japan and returned to England. Later Mr Monkhouse was in Archangel, and on Jus return tg England ho secured a position with the Metropolitan Viekors Company. He has been in Russia, in the service of that company,'for some years.