The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. MONDAY, MAY 16, 1927. RUSSIA IN LONDON.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 113, 16 May 1927, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

MONDAY, MAY 16, 1927. RUSSIA IN LONDON.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

The raid on Soviet House by the London police has precipitated the crisis which has been long preparing between Britain and the Bolshevik Government. It is notorious that the Soviet agents in Britain have persistently made use of their opportunities to push their propaganda under the guise of c6mmercial operations, relying in the last resort on the diplomatic immunity which the envoys of a foreign Power are supposed to enjoy. The suggestion that disappearance of documents from the War Office was the immediate reason for the search is at least probable. But in any case, if material of an incriminating' nature is discovered by the police, they will easily justify themselves to their political superiors as 'well as to the general public. As to whether the Home Secretary acted on his own initiative, without consulting his colleagues, it is not at present possible to decide. But the economic and political consequences of this step are likely to be so serious that in all probability whatever has been done is the outcome of careful discussion and consideration by the Prime Minister and his colleagues.

As was only to be expected, the Russian envoy who has charge of the Soviet Embassy in London has protested vigorously to our Foreign Minister. He rests his case on the Trade Agreement of 1921 between Russia and Britain, and its subsequent confirmations. But his assumption that diplomatic immunity from search or arrest was thus conferred on everybody connected* with the Russian delegation does not seem to be supported by the terms of the agreement itself. Moreover, it is an open question whether any Government, even on the most liberal interpretation of international law, can continue to extend immunity and protection to foreign agents when they repay its hospitality by conspiring to raise a revolution in the country and to overthrow the existing social and economic system altogether.

But until the facts are all before us it is impossible to come to any definite conclusion about this strange and sensational episode. Meanwhile, the Conservative Government has to face a storm of criticism from two quarters at once. The Labour party have assailed the Home Secretary with questions that clearly indicate their sympathy with the Russian envoy's protest; and the leading Liberals, influenced by their traditional prejudices in favour of laisser faire, and against any gratuitous interference with foreign residents in Britain, will doubtless follow suit. Present indications suggest that Ministers will find some difficulty in weathering the storm that they have raised unless they can produce positive proof that the envoys of the Sdviet Republic, "consistently striving for peace," are really agents of war and destruction in disguise.