WHY GERMANY RESUMED THE CAMPAIGN.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 46, 22 February 1918, Page 5

WHY GERMANY RESUMED THE CAMPAIGN.

NO LONGER TRUSTS BOLSHEVIK PROFESSIONS. LONDON, February 21. A German official wireless meesagr states: —We advanced 12J miles astride the Riga-Petrograd railway. IVp advanced on wide sectors between Dvinsk and Lutzk, and are now marching on Rovno. We took 2-500 prisoners and captured 100 guns and much rolling-stock. We also entered Esthonia and passed through Werner. A Russian official wireless message etate3 that Germany has acknowledged the receipt of the Russian peace ofTer. — (A. and N.Z. and Reuter.) Dr. yon Kuhlmann, German Foreign Minister, stated to the Reichstag Committee that the war against Russia would strengthen the inclination of the Bolsheviks towards peace. Germany no longer believed in Ruseia's professions, and must consequently enforce order and peace upon the occupied regions. "'Even to-day," he said, "we are willing to conclude a peace corresponding with our own particular interests." A decisive factor in the Ukraine peace, he added, was the valuable economic advantages Germany would gain during 1018. The Russian Press states that the Bolsheviks will assume freedom of action towards British residents in Russia if the British Government withholds official acknowledgment from Litvinoff, the Bolshevik Ambassador in London. They also threaten energetic repressive measures against British and American subjects unless the pressure causing the closing of the Manehurian border is removed. It is reported from Helsingfors that all money in the Finland State bank has been stolen, and sent to Petrograd for the purchase of arms and provisions. The Russians systematically loot the homes of all the residents not favouring the revolutionaries. Resisters are shot. The Red Guards continue killing and stripping war prisoners. Many naked corpses have been found.— .("Times." l A two days' fight occurred at Odessa between the Ukrainians and the Bolshevik?. Ukrainian aeroplanes and ships bombarded the town, and fired over 500 shells into it, many casualties being caused. Dr. yon Kuhlmann, addressing the Reichstag Committee said that Russian appeals for help were growing daily more numerous and urgent. German}' could not tolerate the destruction of the young Finnish republic and the outrages in Lithuania and Esthonia, nor permit the Bolsheviks to carry out their threats against the Ukraine. The cession of the Polish district of Kholm to the Ukraine had created a bad impression, but it was the only decision possible without blocking peace -with the Ukraine. TS» Austrian Premier had declared Kholm would not be ceded to the Ukraine, ba'f - mixed commission of Poles and Ukrainians would consider the matter ethnographically, and if necessary, the boundaries •would be Umpved eastwarda. '