STARVING RUSSIA.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 3108, 29 December 1921, Page 7

STARVING RUSSIA.

FRIFNDS’ RFRI FF WORK. Ailrr linin' years work in F.nrnpe--including tin' devastated areas ol I"raij»*t*, (Icrm.in v, Auslrv-i. Roland. Rns-ltai and (V.eeko Slovakia - Miss Margaret Thorp returned to Sydney recently. Sue lelt Rn?.sia on September 8. _ Miss Thorp "as working with the Friends’ Relief Fund, which has Keen a I reinendoiis laelnr in recotisl rm-l my toe <-oiitnrv. The help is not merely a chanty dole, 'hut assistance is planned so as to endeavour to pin the people on their led amiin, KlVorls were eoneenl rated on the feeding of children, and In Moscow fm a, while 160.000 children from babyhood to about 14 years old. were given lend (lady. Xohleineii’s homes and palaces have been untied into homes and clinics Jot •■m children, and the children yd tne best of everything no matter ''ho else has ot go without. THK FAMIXF TERRITORY. „ ‘‘The (lovernmeiit is helping all it can. hill its best is Inti iinle." raid the returned worker. “The famine area stretches Irom Viatica, in the north, to Asi rakhan, _in ihi south, a d'.-lance ol 800 miles. Ihe hell is about 300 miles from east to west. When 1 left there were about 18 million starving people. The vreat < 1 1 11 iV ■ 11 . t y is transport, yet there are a lew good trains. One train, which went to the Volga province's, had on hoard a kitchen capable of 1000 boilings, and a ton ol bread could he cooked in four bakings. 'I lim e was also a dispensary, hath, and laundry attached. At Samara- the famine is at its height people are camping in old trucks, on the ground —anywhere. Children grovel in the rubbish heaps, and lick the dirt in a vain effort at procuring sustenance. _ ihe province has three and a half million people, ami lasj year 90 per cent, of the children between the ages of one and three died. “People come' into the towns from the villages,” said Miss Thorp, “and the same story is told by everybody —the grass gave out.' ami the land is burnt. This year’s drought, which has heen responsible for the acuteness of the famine—is the worst since 1891. The women make a bread of ! powdered birch or lime leaves, and crushed acorns, mixed with water.