Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1927 ANGLO-RUSSIAN RELATIONSHIPS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 79, 2 March 1927, Page 8

Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1927 ANGLO-RUSSIAN RELATIONSHIPS.

The British Government’s Note to the Soviet was long overdue. The surprising part of the business is that it was not sent many months ago. No other European Government would have tolerated for so long a period the many abuses of international relationships of which the Soviet Government has been guilty in its subversive campaign against Britain and the British Empire, to say nothing of its express violation of the 1923 agreement?, under which the Soviet bound itself, by . solemn pledges, not to continue its disruptive tactics and propaganda against Britain and British interests. The studied moderation of the Note, despite its stem reminder of the bad faith of the Soviet, 1 has not been met as it might and should have been by any expressions of regret or promises of amendment, but by a practical denial of the Soviet’s responsibilities for the matters charged against it and, by insolent allegations that the British Government has itself violated the agreement by failing to inform the Soviet “of any supposed infringement of its obligations.” Inconsistently enough, however, the reply admits that “during the three and a-half years since the signing of the agreement the British Government had repeatedly reproached the Soviet with alleged infringements of the agreement,” but to these the Soviet had not troubled to reply. The reply further claims that the Zinovieff letter, which constituted “the only definite charge” against the Soviet, “was subsequently proved to be a forgery.” It is true that it was claimed to be such, but the evidence against that contention was overwhelming and Zinovieff, who, at the time of its despatch to the British Communist Party in, October, 1924, was a member of the Soviet Government, was definitely proved to have issued it, though an attempt was made to disclaim responsibility on the part of the Government by alleging that it was a communication from the Third International, of which Zinovieff was the head. In that letter Zinovieff gave the British Bolsheviks, or rather the Eussian Communist agents in Britain, their orders. They were to “get ready for treason by terrorising British electors into accepting the Bolshevik Treaty which our (Soviet) Government has signed”; to -undermine the loyalty of British soldiers by setting up ‘cells’ (that is Bolshevik centres of infection) in the British Army”; to “form groups of ‘specialists’ in the British Army who are to be ‘the future directors of the British Eed Army’”; to “get ready for the outbreak of the ‘class war’ which is civil war of the most fearful and savage kind,” and to “press forward preparations for an ‘armed insurrection.’ ” Mr Bpmsay MacDonald had concluded the treaty with

Russia under which he had agreed to a loan of £50,000,000 being raised for the Soviet, and the Moscow journals had exulted over the fact that that loan would enable them to continue their propaganda against Britain and the Empire in the interests of the world revolution. The letter was accepted by Mr MacDonald as authentic, but although it was dated September 15 it was not published until October 1 25, and would', not probably have been published then had it not been released by an official at the Foreign Office with Mr MacDonald’s sanction. In commenting upon the latter’s acceptance of the treaty responsible members of the Soviet Administration informed the Eussian “Assembly” (according to the LQndon Times of October 24, 1924) that "“their willingness t,o co-operate with non-Communist governments is merely a means to an end, a means of facilitating the undermining of these governments. By the Anglo-Soviet treaties, they say, Great Britain should provide the means for her own destruction, or conversion into a Communist State.” Tchicherin stated explicitly that he and the Soviet Government fully agreed that Soviet Eussia must not pay Great Britain a farthing—even a broken farthing. “It is a simple arithmetical problem,” he said. “Our Union will rot pay even a broken farthing, because, under the treaties, it receives more than it pays.”

THE COMMUNIST CAMPAIGN Zinovieff who, at that time (1923), was in charge of the Eussian Foreign Office, declared, in spite of the declaration Mr Eamsay MacDonald had made that he would have “none of Moscow’s monkey tricks” that he (Mr MacDonald) “has nothing left but to fight for our cause” and that he “would go down in history as one of the world’s funny men.” Describing Mr MacDonald’s attitude towards Campbell, who had been indicted for inciting British soldiers and sailors to disobey their commanders, Zinovieff said that, having released Campbell “under pressure,” Mr MacDonald “must now defend the'principle that soldiers should disobey their officers. The ‘tout of the British bourgeosie’ must (Ziiiovieff declared) do all this, because he had not broken with the revolutionary elements in Great Britain. MacDonald (he added) ploughs the field for the Communist harvest.” Although it may be argued that Zinovieff no longer holds an official position in the Soviet Administration, there haS been no repudiation of his action and.. no abatement of Bolshevik activities against Britain. The British Foreign Office has ample evidence that the disturbances in. China have been fostered and aggravated by Soviet agents. Zinovieff began *the business and, while still holding office as Commissar of Foreign Affairs, said last June, speaking of the Hankow disturbances: “This is only a gentle breeze, a small beginning. The •real storm is yet to come. ... We shall live to see the vital union between hundreds of millions of oppressed peoples in Ifldia, China, Egypt and other countries enslaved to capitalism. ... In

the near future a wide programme for the further development of the Chinese revolutionary movement will be drawn tip.” The Soviet Ambassador at Pekin has by his speeches also shown that the Soviet has actively fomented the troubles, the brunt of which, so far as foreigners are concerned, has been directed against the British. The Soviet can scarcely deny its responsibility for the Communist International, which was founded under its authority in Moscow as the Third International and with which its members., are actively associated. To claim that “there had been no agreements limiting the freedom of speech and Press within the borders of either country” is one of those absurdities of which only a Bolsehvik, who respects no agreements but those that suit his purpose, could have been guilty, for the simple reason that the treaty expressly bound the Soviet to abstain from the pi-o-pdganda -in which it had admittedly been engaged and from any interference with British domestic concerns or British politics. Instead of fulfilling her obligations in that respect the Soviet has persistently carried on in the same fashion as before, sending its agents into Britain and into other parts of the Empire to spread disaffection and to corrupt the minds of the workers with Communistic and revolutionary doctrines. The British Note was sent as a warning that these things must be discontinued. The reply consists of misstatements, unfounded charges, insincere professions and-a desire for peace, and a complete ignoring of the subversive activities in which the Soviet has, and is still, engaged. The German press rightly regards it as a jibing document, in which mockery is the leading note. It would have paid Britain better to have treated Eussia as the United States continues to treat her, as an undesirable nation to have any dealings with so long as it retains its Communistic ieaders and policy, than for Mr Lloyd George to have concluded with her the treaty of 1923.

February was a record month for fires in Wellington, 98 outbreaks occurring during the 28 days. Walter Hamer, aged 11, died from a eeizure while bathing in the baths at Aramoho, Wanganui, yesterday. Through the engine of a motor-car back-firing while he was cranking . it, a youth, Jack Martin, aged 18, employed at a garage in Te Awamutu, sustained a fracture of his right arm. Mr L. F. de Berry (headmaster) reported to the meeting of the Central School Committee last night that Master Abe Penman had won the Gray scholarship fcrize for 1926. The southbound Main Trunk train was approximately 40 minutes late on arrival at the local station this morning, the delay being caused by heavy traffic. A series of earthquakes was experienced at Whakatane on Saturday morning, at about 8.15, "3.25 and'4 o’clock. The first shock -had a distinct rooking motion, which lasted for' l2 to 15 seconds. The other tremors were only slight ones. // ■ A motor-car, driven by Captain Pitt, went over the side of the Meremere Hill, near Opotiki, and came to rest about 50ft below. Captain Pitt escaped with cuts on the head and the radiator of the car was the only part of the vehicle to be damaged. An Auckland message states that a contract for repairs to the steamer Northumberland has been let. The work will commence early' next week, and will last about six weeks. Sixty to eighty men will be employed, and the oost of the repairs will be about £BOOO.

Fifteen members of the New Zealand Maori Rugby team, which has just returned from a tour embracing England and France, arrived in Palmerston North by the southbound' Main Trunk train this morning. Eight of the players remained in town for a period, later departing for Hawke’s Bay by the Napier express. When on duty in Hastings in the early hours of yesterdav morning, Constable Horne was attracted by noises from a butcher’s shop, and on entering from the back surprised two men in the act of parcelling up meat. Andrew Thow was secured by the policeman, but the other man escaped. Thow appeared in court the same day and was remanded. Trouble between the fishermen and the three companies which buy fish at Thames has developed into a deadlock, states a Press Association message. JVo fish has been on sale at Thames since Saturday. It is understood that the reason is the reduction in the price, which fishermen- say is not enough. Several conferences have been held, but no agreement has yet been reached. . ,

A local resident who cultivates cabbages states that his garden has been seriously affected by a green fly which eats the leaves and spoils the vegetable. He states that a number of young E hints were quite free.of the pest until e set out a further supply, purchased elsewhere, in his garden. The latter were apparently harbouring the eggs of the fly and as a result the garden has suffered.

Mr R. W. Dyer, S.M., gave decision at Hastings in a case heard' on February 14, in which Loo Lee was charged ivith being found in possession of opium in a form suitable for smoking. The opium concerned was found in a parcel left at the • service station for delivery in Wairoa. The .magistrate .found that defendant was not actually in possession of the opium and dismissed the charge.

A Press Association' telegram from Hamilton states that an accident which occurred in a drainage trench on the Clatidelands racecourse on March 15, 1926, when a labourer,' William Henry McEwen, was injured through the walls of the trench subsiding and burying him, led to a case if! the Supreme Court. McEwen sought to recover £1545 damages from his employer, and the jury returned a verdict awarding plaintiff £1250. *-■ ■

Further excavation on a section in Fitzherbert Avenue, on which an old cow-bell was found yesterday, has brought to light a large matai tree. The timber which is lying in the bed of the old Plague Creek, is iiwan excellent state of preservation and has to be cut out with an axe. The contractors, who are endeavouring to. find a bottom for foundations, have not succeeded, up to tha^jpresent although a shaft over 20 feet deep has been sunk.

A scries of kinematograph films depicting various aspects of the Royal tour has been taken by the Government Publicity Office. The first consignment of these, dealing with the arrival of Their Royal Highnesses and the children's display at the Auckland Domain, were placed on board the Makura yesterday/ addressed to the High Commissioner for New Zealand in London. Accompanying the films is a package of about 150 ordinary photographs. A Hawera resident, when cycling to his work the other morning, was stung in the ear by a bee he unfortunately collided with. He was not far from his home, to which lie returned immediately and had the sting removed. By this time he was so faint that he could not stand and had to go to bed, where he remained three days and lost four days work as a result of the accidental encounter. A remarkable early effect of the stinging was* that the patient’s face on the opposite side swelled to a great size, while the other side remained normal. Two valuable donations have recently been promised to .the Palmerston North Boys’ High School, and the gifts were acknowledged, yesterday by Mr J. A. Nash, M.P.,. chairman, of .the Board of-Governors, and by.Mr.J. Murray, M.A., rector, of the institution. From Miss Hawkins the. school is .to receive 100 law books, which were the property of her father, the late-Mr G. ,F, Hawkins, one of the earliest solicitors of Palmerston North, while.Mr Carson, the father of a present pupil, has promised a set -of the Encyclopedia Brittanica.

The berthing of the mail steamer Tahiti, which arrived at Auckland from Vancouver yesterday morning, was delayed for about an hour in consequence of one man being missing. The man was put aboard by the police at Suva and was seen in one of the ship’s bathrooms yesterday morning. When the ship dropped anchor, however, he could not be found, and a thorough search failed to reveal his whereabouts. A signal from the steamer summoned the - waterfront police, but their search was unavailing. It is understood that the man was being returned to New Zealand from Fiji. - : '