THE FAR EAST.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 173, 15 April 1908, Page 7

THE FAR EAST.

' RUSSIAN POLICY. PREMIER'S PLEA FOR MORE MONEY. DIFFICULTIES AHEAD. OY TELEGRAPH—rBE33 ASSOCIATION— COPTMOHI (Rcc. April 14, 9.40 p.m.) St. Petersburg, . April 14. . Tho Premier, M. Stolypin, urged the Duma to vote the money asked for by the Government, as Russia must be strong in the Far East, not only for fighting, but for the protection, of the national civilißing work which is Russia's historic mission. . ... ■ It was, added Premier, impossiblo to double" track tho Manchurian line, becauso China'had a right of pre-emption and would certainly buy. Without tho proposed Amur railway, it was impossible/to develop forty, million acres of corn lands and areas rich in auriferous wealth and tho forests of the Amur region, or to prevent the influxi of aliens. , _ The statement was received with enthusiastic cheers. RUSSIA AND JAPAN. Tho money which the Russian Government asks for includes .£15,732,000 for the duplication of tho Siberian railway. . The Amur railway will , also be a costly undertaking, but it is dosmed ncccssary if Russia's development and colonisation of. tho .Far East is to kpep pace with Japan's. The Russian Minister. for Finance, If. KokovtsefT, who is credited with a full sense of the difficulties of Russia's financial position, has nevertheless declared that tho construction of tho second transSiberian line is politically - indispensable within the.next'five years. A sensational article in' the ! "Novoe Vreraya" . declares that, whilo the Japanese will soon have 800 battalions ready to invado Siberia, a Turkish army in Asia Minor 'is already mobilised for tho purpose' of overrunning, Persia in order to carry-,out the German plan of cutting off Russia from the Persian Gulf; Russia is also said to be threatened by an uprising 'in Finland. . It, is considered that the purpose of the article is to stimulate tho Chauvinistic campaign, which has gradually been developing for tho past year, ■ with tho object of diverting attention from reforms and strengthening tho hands of reaction.