THE STATE OF RUSSIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12956, 28 August 1905, Page 5

THE STATE OF RUSSIA.

TRIAL OF NAVAL MUTINEERS.EIGHT SENTENCED TO DEATH. . SERIOUS DISTURBANCES IN POLAND. By Telegraph Press Association—Copyright. •(Received August 27, -1.19 p.M.) St. Petersburg, August 26. As a sequel to the recent naval reI volt 137 sailors have been court- ! martialled at Libau. . Eight were ! sentenced to be shot and 19 to im- ! prisonment, with hard labour. ! An- inspection of the barracks at | Lodz revealed the fact that the Cloneski regiment were in possession of many Jewish and Polish proclamations, and 150 Polish and Jewish soldiers have been transferred to Lomza, the scat of the regimental depot.

Sanguinary disturbances have occurred at Siedlce, and two dynamite explosions at Sonowice, in connection with the strike and in protest against the Tsar's manifesto. GRAIN TRADE PARALYSED. (Deceived August 28, 12.59 a.m.) St. Petersburg, August 27. The grain export trade from the Russian Black Sea ports is paralysed. The Government has retained the rolling- stock. Wheat and rye are dearer in Odessa than in London. It is expected that the bulk accumulated alongside the railways will be required for the famine-stricken districts. MASSACRE OF MERCHANTS. St. Petersburg, August 25. During a fair village at Bhovka, in the province of Verkhne Dnieprovsk, an immense crowd of peasants attacked the merchants and pillaged their goods. They massacred some of the unfortunate traders and mutilated others, gouging their eyes out and cutting off their ears.

WHOLESALE ARRESTS OF SOCIALISTS. St. Petersburg, August 25. The .Cossacks surrounded a socialist meeting at Blutow, near Lodz, in Poland, and arrested 380. A further 450 were subsequently arrested at Lodz. ■

MARTIAL LAW IN WARSAW.

St. Petersburg, August 25. Martial law has been proclaimed over- the whole of Warsaw. A BRIDGE BLOWN UP.St. Petersburg, August 25. The Government strikers blew up a bridge over the Vistula-, near R&doni. .. "■ ■'•-'..; : ■

The Russian newspapers ' print . the gloomiest leading articles. The Eazsvet .says that Russia is a thousand times more interested in the prospects of a revolution than in the prospects of peace.' " Revolution now stores us in the face, filling with- despair those - who yesterday looked forward to a brighter dawn." The Russkiya Viedomosti says:— are becoming accustomed to hear of a state of siege being declared at various points in the Empire without the Government's vouchsafing to give us a reason for such a serious step." The N&sha Zhizn says: — "The Government would have us believe that the appearance of a few agitators sufficed to upset the discipline and loyalty of the navy, but it is evident that the catastrophe is clue to other and deepercauses. It is evident that passive ignorance is an unreliable support of order, and that mere dread is a bad means of government. Syn Otechestva sees four separate but ' correlated phenomena in' the events at Odessa—labour riots, agrarian movement, hooliganism, and mutiny. The last-named " betrays an ominous process of disintegration in the organism which traditionally is most loyal and most devoted to the maintenance of order." The Novoe Vrernya bewails Russia's woes, and awaits the judgment of heaven upon the authors.