SOVIET REGIME.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 72, 24 February 1932, Page 7

SOVIET REGIME.

BAD OUTLOOK FOR GRAIN SEASON. ' v , : ALARMING POSITION. (Times Cable). LONDON, Feb. 22. “Unless a miracle occurs the Russian programme of grain culture in 1932 ap. peal's pregnant with the elements of catastrophe,” states the Riga correspondent of the Times. “Discord within the Communist. Party is gaining in intensity owing to the dislocation of the agricultural plans. The Soviet’s reports describe the position as most alarming, and refer to the necessity of feeding distressed poasants in some areas, ,-f “The reports declare that the preparations for sowing; actually are decreasing in most regions owing to the criminal apathy of officials and collective farming organisations, while the rank and file of the collectivised peasantry has assumed a dangerously uninterested attitude. “Conditions are the worst in the Ukraine, where great quantities of grain, prepared for spring sowing, have been ruined through careless storing. Other quantities of seed and grain, left unguarded, have been plundered and squandered by the peasants.” SPAIN REJECTS OVERTURES. Received February 23, 8.5 a.m. LONDON, Feb. 2?. A message from Madrid-says that the Government has rejected Russian overtures for a commercial agreement offering favourable opportunities for Spanish products. The Government fears that the establishment of a Soviet trade delegation in Spain would result dn a permanent revolution ary hotbed under the official cover of the delegation. ' -