THE RUSSIAN FAMINE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3113, 17 April 1922, Page 7

THE RUSSIAN FAMINE.

Sir Benjamin Robertson, who Juts had considerable experience of famines in India, lately returned to England after a survey of the famine area and of the work of the relief organisations. lie was accompanied to Russia, by Mr J. E. Dyer, also an expert in relief work. Jn an interview Sir Benjamin said lie was struck by the many points of similarity between India and the Volga country, the same great plains, with a rural population of small cultivators,' a similar communal organisation, a similar patriarchal mode of life and even similar mentality. The very existence of the people is intimately connected with the result of their agricultural work. A bad harvest causes widespread misery; a good harvest brings the whole country hack to life.

He went on to say that during the whole of his experience in India of tliiry-five years he has never met with a. catastrophe of the magnitude of the Russian one. In India when onceighth of the rural population are in need of relief, the famine is considered a.s most severe and exceptional. In the Volga famine area it is practically the whole population, 100 per cent, of it, which :s destitute. Sir Benjamin has visited the territory covered by the work of the British relief organisations, and be has been careful to investigate the situation personally. He has come toi the conclusion that in a large area from Kazan, on the Upper Volga, down to Orenburg, on the confines of Asia, and to Astrakhan, on the Caspian, about 15,000,000 or 10,000,000 people are in the severest straits for food, and about half as many again are affected in a lesser degree. Sir Benjamin remarked that lie has not been able to investigate' other famine areas, as, for example, parts of the Ukraine, the Crimea, and the Caucasus. The Russian peasants are now enduring sufferings which beggar all description. Death reigns everywhere and under many forms. It is useless to repeat the description of all the horrors which occur. Let it he only mentioned that cannibalism is freely reported, and relief workers believe that such accounts are not unfounded. Abandoned children by the thousands are picked up in the streets. It is a terrible situation indeed. It is impossible to save all the victims of the famine, and efforts should be concentrated on saving as many as flic relief organisations can •support until the new harvest is reaped. Turning to what was being done, Sir Benjamin said ho could not sufficiently praise the noble work of the two British relief organisations; the Society of Friends and the “Save the Children Fund.” The Society of Friends is working in the very bottom of the hellish pit in the county of Busuluk, in the ■Samara province, the Save the Children Fund is active in Saratoff town and province. Both are doing excellentwork, and tho words “English Kitchen” have become for the local population the symbol of life. Ho paid tile greatest tribute to the self-sacri-ficing effort of the devoted band of workers in Busuluk and Saratoff. In our time, lie said, when miracles do not exist, these bravo men and women are performing a miracle. But at what a price? Out of fourteen Friends in Busuluk one has died from typhus, two are down with the dread disease, and the rest are worn out by their terrible work. Ho also spoke with the greatest admiration of the superb work done by the- powerful American Relief Administration. The Americans are working with clockwork precision and regularity, and their work is restricted only by the deterioration of the railway system. They are now tackling a new job, that- of feeding adults, and are importing for tins end some 350,000 tons of maize, U was recognised that it was wrong to feed children while the adults died.

Sir Benjamin expressed the conviction that all funds for relief should come out of an all-British fund, in which all the present funds should he merged. The organisations which arc doing such splendid work in Russia should he strengthened hy now personnel, and all ovenvrecked members should he given a chance to recuperate. There is no apprehension of difficulties on the part of the Soviet Government, which now is doing everything possible to help within its very limited administrative means. The local Soviets arc working well, and are eager to assist in every way. The Soviets arc making a strong effort to supply the seed required for the spring sowings, and arc feeding, as far as their limited means permit, people loft out of the operations of the foreign relief organisations. They have evolved a plan for dealing with the abandoned children which is sound in principle, hut which is' hampered in execution hy the shortage of medical aid and supplies and hy (he immensity of the problem. Finally. Sir Benjamin was emphatic that all relief supplies reach flic destitute with only an inappreciable amount of pilferage. This he had verified hy careful personal investigation, and his belief was corroborated hv all relief workers.