RIP VAN WINKLES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 25, 9 November 1934, Page 8

RIP VAN WINKLES.

OLD IMPERIAL RUSSIA. "AMBASSADORS" OF THE TSAR. Although the Russia of the Tsars ceased to exist 17 years ago there still remain a few square yards of soil oyer which the Imperial Russian Eagle keeps watch. At Bucharest, Rumania, and in Belgrade, the Yugoslavian capital,, the Imperial Russian embassies still exist.. Their "Ambassadors" still belong to the Diplomatic Corps, still extend protection to the "subjects of the Tsar" and still maintain the fiction that old Imperial Russia lives. • "I have been put in charge of the Russian Embassy of Bucharest by His Majesty the Tsar," M. PoklewskyKoziell said on July 6. "I have not been notified officially that my mission is ended. Naturally, I continue to perform my duties." This official strictly adheres to this Rip Van Winkle attitude and the Imperial embassy, once the noblest edifice on the gay Galea Victoriei hut now shabby and dilapidated, still continues to "function." The same applies to the Belgrade Embassy. Tho "Ambassadors" have not received a penny foe 17 years. They are now reduced to one servant each and have struggled along by selling the luxurious furnishings of the Embassy buildings. But into these "sleepy hollow" embassies reality is now forcing its way. Rumania and Yrdcoslavia have at last decided to recognise Soviet Russia and the TJ.S.3.R. Foreign Office is now preparing to send Ambassadors to'these capitals. There can be but one outcome, but M. Poklewsky-Koziell says he is determined to keep the Imperial Eagle aloft at all costs, and Rumania is finding the affair exceedingly awkward.