CONDITIONS IN SIBERIA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16796, 12 March 1918, Page 7

CONDITIONS IN SIBERIA

PRO-ALLY SENTIMENT.

THOUSANDS OF ENEMY PRISONERS. The condition of Eastern Siberia was reI cently described in tho Now York Times J by Mr. G. P. Conger, who served as a Y.M.C.A. secretary in the Russian war prisons in that region. Describing the accumulation of munitions at Vladivostok, Mr. Conger said it had been estimated that there was freight enough at Vladivostok to keep the Trans-Siberian railroad j running, at what had previously been its I full capacity, for seven years, beforo the j la*t box or bale could be set down in , Pelrograd or Moscow. Long ago tho steady ! stream of supplies from Japan and ! America filled all available warehouses to overflowing, 'and the authorities were obliged to utilise vacant spaces wherever they could he found in or around the city. Japanese Protection. All through the unsettled months folj lowing the revolution, the people of Eastern .Siberia have expected that Japan would step in and take a hand if anything went wrong. L was popularly believed that a Japanese fleet was even waiting jtt't outside the harbour. This belief did a great deal to maintain order, and to offset the influence of tho thousand or more future Bolsheviks who passed through Vladivostok on their way home aftor their political exile in America. There has been some uneasiness in view of the possibility of peace between the Bolsheviks and tho Central Powers, lest a large number of prisoners of war should bo returned to the latter and bo availablo for military service. Since the district around Vladivostok is tho furthest from the front to which large numbers of men could be transported, the tendency Las been to concentrate there the German and Austrian prisoners of highest rank and greatest desirability. In the Amur district, north of Vladivostok, there aro thousands of officer prisoners—probably more officers than private soldiers. They include a large number of highly placed staff officers and members of noblo families, whose return to Germany and Austria would be a noteworthy advantage to those countries. Their return is, however, only a remote possibility. Even if the Bolsheviks controlled the" whole- of Russia and Siberia, the chances are that America would still have time to turn the balance of war before these men could reach Germany or Austria, A favourite subject of discussion in the prison camps of these officers is this: If it took the. Russians eleven months to get her Jap-, anese prisoners to Japan after the peace of 1905, how much longer will it take her to get perhaps twenty times as many men to Germany and Austria after the present war is over? When one considers the magnitude of the problem and the present state of the Russian transport' system, as well as the general disorganisation in all branches of Russian public life, there seems no ground for apprehension on this score. Temporary Independence.

Commenting on the report that an independent Government was being set up in the Vladivostok region, Mr. Conger said that the sentiment of the people of this portion of Siberia i 3 in the main strongly pro-ally; their declaration of independence shows that they do not intend to hand over either munitions or prisoners to mako a German holiday. Yet they are so thoroughly Russian at heart that it is impossible for one who knows them to think of them as remaining , independent of a Russian Government representing tho best elements in Russia. Their independence must be meant only as a temporary measure.

Their natural inclinations will bo strengthened through nearness of tho, Japanese. Since the Russian-Japanese agreement of a year ago, which opened Siberia to Japanese colonists, the relations between the two nations have been friendly. It would not be surprising if Japanese troops were called for to extend protection to several Eastern Siberian cities and to Harbin in Manchuria, in order effectively to cut off all the railroads and rivers of Eastern Siberia from possible service to the Bolsheviks, and ultimately to the enemy. At the same time, it must be granted that without the full consent of all elements in Russia it would be a long and difficult task to transport Japanese troops to the eastern front. Under the best conditions, the Siberian express crosses the 5800 miles from Vladivostok to Petrograd in ten days and nights; a troop train is more likely to take from 20 to 30 days. The slightest disturbance might, of course, upset the whole operation.