RUSSIAN EXPERIENCES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 248, 19 October 1922, Page 3

RUSSIAN EXPERIENCES.

NEW ZEAJLANDER IN FAMINE AREA. SIGHTS OF A RAILWAY JUUFA'EY. A Xew Zealander who is engaged on j famine relief work in Russia in a rirst J letter to the H-igh Commissioner in London, describe* some of his experiences en route to the Volga region where '.he famine still threaten* the lives of hundreds of thousand-' of unfortunates. Writing of the train itself in which he journeyed east nnd south from Moscow, he remarks: ''First of all. the pauge is very wide—the widest in the worH— wjhieh ensure* comfortable travelling; ! but on this particular line the track seems to be very lightly laid, the rails themselves being only about two-thirds j of the size of those used, on the main lines in England. I expect the line i>! sadly in need of repair, as the bumping over the rails is very constant, which points to the unevenness of the track and to the necessity of ballast. Ours is the last car of the train, and hanging on to the back of it are two raggedlooking boye having a "joy-ride. ' I am told that these boys often travel hundreds of mile-s in this manner, slipping off the train as it pulls up at a station so as to escape the eye of the guard, and mounting it again as the train begins to move out of its next run. Quite a number of such passengers boarded our car at various intervals during our journey, and nobody appeared to take any notice of them. - ' j COST OF LIVING. Some astounding figures are given of the cost of living. "We strike up a conversation with the railway servant on the ear, who tells us that his monthly j wages (imount to only 700,000 roubles; i a starvation wage (as the poor fellow's J face betrays), equalling well under one I shilling. The pound is worth at present about 18..J00.000 roubles which makes the shilling equal to 920,000 roubles. While on the subject of money, it may be interesting to note some of I the prices for different commodities in j Russia to-aav. Prices in Moscow I seem to be higher than in most of the ! other towns, this, no doubt, on account lof the large population. Tn Moscow a glass of tea costs 100,000 roubles, a newspaper 00.000. a tram Ade (for quite a short distance) 125,000. A cab fare from one million upwards. The following is a list of prices which 1 took at a small village called Bogoyavlensk, where we were held up for several hours on account of one of our axles overheating:— Fresh eggs 50.00 A »ai-li. Bread. 1.1a.-k ISO.OOO per lb. Mutton R'IO.OOO Butter, fresh 1.000.000 Sugar 4.T0.000 Cigarettes 750.000 per 100. "Here I was told that the first appreciable rise lit prices began in 1916. and from that year there has been a continual rise, which has by no mean* come to an end yet."' I CASUAL WORK PEOPLE. Sime trouble occurs with a bearing I and the carriage is shunted at a small i station. An amusing account is. given lof the casual methods of the workers "It takes all day to do the necessary repairs, so we have time to look round this small settlement, for that is all it is lOn tlie railway track ciosc l>y are [ women plate-layers at work, two men i directing them! but doing very littl* work themselves. There arc frequent rests when they all sit down on the

j rails and chatter merrily away. by. on a side line, are some disused locomotives minus practically all the removable parts. Numbers of these old engines are to lie seen at many of the ! stations along the line, rows and rows lof them at the largrr railway centres. All have been stripped of crank-rods, levers, and of the many parts which could bo used for repairing purposes, for the rolling stock on the Russian railways at the present time is at very low ebb. Besides engines, there are al-n hundreds of trucks, just the chassis and j uprights for the roof, remaining, the rest of the wood having been stripped off probably for fuel during the winter month?, and also for repairing purI poses. j "There is more trouble and the repairs 'occupy another day at a station further along. ''As night settles down on the third ! day. we at last come into sight of the j outlying suburbs of the town of Saratov, I beyond which is to be seen a wide cxl pause of water, and so we see our first

view of Europe's, greatest river—the mighty Volga. The long journey of, 796 versts, about 530 miles from Mo?-! i cow. has taken us 74 hours counting i our delays caused by axle trouble, the usual time taken being about 36 hours, j ENTERING THE FAMINE AREA. I "At Atkarsk. where wo wait for 15 minutes, we see the first real famine-; looking faces. Two boys in particular, look the picture of misery with their ragged garments and sari, pinched little; faces, more eloquent than nil the words' j they mutter about their hunger and I suffering. They do not a-k for mon<'\—tha t is but of small ,i=e to them—! ■khleb, khleb' (bread, bread) is all they' ask. We hand one of them a chunk of i black bread, but the poor little fellowseems too sad to say anything and moves o!T clutching the piece of bread tightly, and gazing at it vonderingly. As we get further into Saratov province, the ■ country take? on a leaner look, and for many miles at a stretch there is practically no cultivation of any kind. With the disappearance of the snow about a J month or six week.- ago. the first ru-h , of e3rly spring has caused the country Ito look very green, bur this i-. for the ! mo«t parr only short gras- and the rye i crops on which the peasant? depend for 5 ! their bread are now rarely to be seen. , LITTUE TRAFFIC ON" LIN'HS. I "Eventually Koslov is reached. K«>s- [ luv is a very large railway centre fur trains coming from the cuth. an' wo particularly notice the -.i:r. F.i -I that during the whole d:u i..;t one c. ii train passed through: one pa--.-n>;.r ] train left and one c-anu- in— tin-; vi; (V (■xtent of die rail au\ trarii ■.a Ku-.!or >n that da>. ThU fai:i, -ho-.v- wry j,i s .n!y ' the »iate ol thing-, in fin-am tu-d.i.r---nu u-iiJe, no tratik' ;•> ,p-j~ vi. JiUnJrfcd* lof disused locomotive*- .md trutks lyins ion the -ide line-, dirt and du..rJ.;r I everywhere. The fmiv trainc v.- did j notii-.- on our way to -.ir.itoi were tlj.>s~, 'carrying relief ««pplie« !<uded l>v mej iA.K.'a. i Aiu-ri.-.iii Ilflie! A.lmini-tra-ition.i"