BESSARABIA

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 2 November 1926, Page 10

BESSARABIA

A MEDLEY OF RACES. Among the territories which, by a result of the war, have passed under new administrations none, perhaps, has been the subject of so many conflicting reports and fanciful stories as Bessarabia. The difficulties of transport which confront the ordinary traveller have much to do with the confusion of ideas. There are practically no roads in Bessarabia; or perhaps there are too many, for one of. the worries of the motorist is of tracks radiating across the fields without any means of finding out where they lead. In dry weather these tracks can be used for motor■••ng. 11l winter or after a heavy rain ‘-.hev become impassable for anything but' ox-drawn carts. When the Roumanians took jiossession of Bessarabia there were only 125 miles of roads and .580 miles of broad-gauge railways, mostly communicating eastwards across the Dniester. This was very little for a province 17,500 square kilometres in area. A great improvement has been made since then, the broad gauge railways have been converted to normal gauge and new rail- , way lines and roads have been built, but much remains to be done before the 1 province is provided with adequate communications. Some observers see in more roads and railways the remedy for Bessarabian troubles, and argue that the development of the province is prevented by tbe lack of transport. There has been an abundance of crops this season, after three successive years of dearth. The hind was parched, the inhabitants and their cattle were reduced to the verge of starvation, and the price of food and fodder rose to fantastic figures. It is no wonder that the population was discontented. Alany sold all they had and , turned their thoughts to emigration. - Others left their wives and children at home and migrated to other parts of the kingdom in search of work. Emigration offices v.-eve established by all the great shipping companies in almost every one of the towns. The Government stepped ■n and voted large credits which were used for buying wheat and maize in the Old Kingdom and sending it to Bessarabia. Their help did something to relieve the dearth, but was insufficient. Things have changed this year. The emigration offices are closing down and farm labourers are scarce, even at wages far higher than in other parts of Roumania. The population looks satisfied, the cattle well fed, and the Jewish trader rubs his hands in anticipation of brisk business for the remainder of the year. ~, The population of the Getatea Alba (Akkennan) district is composed of a medley of races: Germans, Bulgarians, Swiss, Ukrainians, Russians, Gagautzi, Armenians. Jews, and Roumanians in Bessarabia they call themselves Moldavians—who, although numerous, are net in a majoritv. In the Caliul district foil the banks of the Prutb) and in ail the rest of the province, beginning from and including the Tigliina district, the Moldavians form a more or less compact mass, except in the towns, which are inhabited by a mixed population, the majority being .Tews. By fir the most prosperous settlers are the Germans. They came as colonists about a century ago, during the lean time which followed the Napoleonic wars. The Russian Government,having annexed Bessarabia in 1812 and being occupied with plans for its resettlement, hastened to take advantage of this exodus of an industrious rural population, and offered them free land and help in working'it. The Germans form a population of about 70,000, bring in the centre of the Cetatea Alba district in about two dozen villages bearing well-sounding names, such as Leipzig, Paris, Tarutino, Teplitz, Friedenstal, and Ferchampenoise. They are the most law-abiding, hard-working section of the population, and lend their enlightened and efficacious support to the Roumanian authorities in keeping order. The Swiss ' settlements are as highly organised as the German. There are about 2000 French-speaking Swiss, all wine-growers, settled at Shaba, on the Liman (the estuary of the Dniester). They also immigrated about 100 years ago, having been brought by the Tsar Alexander I. to introduce systematized vine culture in Bessarabia. In marked, contrast to the Germans and Swiss stand the Bulgarians and the Gagautzi. The Gagautzi are Christians of Turkish, or more accurately, Tartar, race long settled in Bulgaria, who, together with the Bulgarians, followed the Russian armies after the Peace of Adrianoplo in 1829 and settled as colonists in Southern Bessarabia. They are of Greek Orthodox faith, but Turkishspeaking. They are the most backward of all the nationalities living in Bessarabia," for they live in mud plastered huts in a state of penury and their villages are an eyesore. With the exception of the Jews, the Bulgarians and the Gagautzi have been the only element to respond to Bolshevist propaganda, but on the whole they are lawabiding.