PETROGRAD AS IT IS TO-DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 148, 22 June 1918, Page 15

PETROGRAD AS IT IS TO-DAY.

PEOPLE ROBBED OF CLOTHES IX THE STREETS.

r.i'f? c _*°J Io "' lnR is an extract from a letter wrlil Te(l . from '' clro early in April. The resident Enlls " officer who has been resident there for some tirae.J

Life here is full ° diversity. Owing to short fuel the electricity supply ~ much cut v> e get ° thinS till 6 p.m., and it Is dark at 4 o'clock. It only lasts till 12 o clock, and then nothing more till G p.m. next day. -- y

We get up by candle light, and the candle ■ costs a fortune, likewise oil. Trams stop running at 9.30. Bread scarce and bad In quality, and contains much straw and foreign matter, causing much irritation to the lnsldes, and consequently children and old people suffer much from dysentery. -Mces are fanciful. The old 3 rouble dinner at a decent restaurant Is now 18, and the quality about two-thirds of former days. One never gets meat. It is all mince. There are no eggs. There are no tips; but 10 per cent Is added to the bill for the waiters. The country is flooded with an inferior and badly printed paper currency much resembling the cheaper form of bottle label. It is served out in sheets and cut off with scissors. Much is not only made in Germany, but bears a mark in the corner to show it. Government departments will not accept it, although they issue It and pay employees In it. Shops cannot change money, so trade is very poor.

Banks only open three days weekly. Tbe crowd is so dense that it takes hours to get near the counter.

" THE THREE F's CLUB."

We arc very short of wood, and my room ls never over 8 degrees: 14-15 degrees ls the usual healthy temperate heat of a living room here. Wood costs 50 roubles for what cost 1 rouble in pre-war days.

What remain of the English officers here have formed a clnb for food, and we dine together, sitting down about 20. We call It the Three F's —"Fed-up, Forsaken, and Far from Home."

We dine In uniform and have a guest night on Thursdays, run strictly like a mess, and drink the King's health. The centre piece is adorned with the flags of the Allies; and it is said to be the only place in Tetrograd where the Russian flag may still be seen displayed.

The streets are unswept and snow left lying about ln heaps. The police were all killed in the first revolution; the militia has disappeared since the Bolsheviks appeared. No one controls the traffic, so every Jehu Is a law unto himself and drives furiously anyhow and anywhere. A third of the shops are shut and boarded up. Most of the houses at street corners are chipped and ragged-edged from bullet hits. The Winter Palace is pitted all over with bullets, like plums in a pudding, and nearly every one of Its hundreds of windows Is patched up with paper.

One night coming back from the opera to my flat I rhn Into three separate night activities! Of course, much of the shooting is in the air; but no one ls safe either ln his honse or in the street. There is no one to appeal to for justice or protection. People are robbed of their boots and clothes and left to wander home barefooted and shivering without a coat. Austrian officers and prisoners in uniform are Quite numerous, lounging about, smoking and taking the air quite unattended. German is spoken freely and openly in the streets; but I haTe never seen the Hun ln uniform yet.