"RUSSIA AGAIN NORMAL."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18458, 23 July 1923, Page 9

"RUSSIA AGAIN NORMAL."

FAMINE NO LONGER EXISTS. KRASSIN'S TRADE MISSION. "Interviewed during his recent visit , toj London in connection with the British j Government's threat to break off diplo-. I matic relations with Russia, Leonid Erassin discussed the ' possibility of trading re- i lations. : ■; '■■''^■ : ,i: : - ■:'[• :■'.-., y'[- ! M'' : .y .•;.:'■.'"■'' "■--'" ~ ' "Wo are now standing at the threshold ■■ of a renewed grain export,; and' it >is essential; that England should buy from us," he'" said. ■■•'■. , ' , , J "We were able to sell half a ' million tons' of our crops in '1922, and if there is no disaster from the weather; : to our harvest this year, it may be anticipated that our exports will reach three or four j million.tons;; ''"'';■... ■■ : /Iji .'V.; '1^:% .-.>•/ "We have enough for all; our ; needs. ! Famine no longer , exists in: Russia..: It is possible - : that ■ there be places oast of the Volga and the Steppes, five or six hundred miles from any railway, where there is a shortage, but, taken ail round, Russia is now onto again normal :, • "As I flew from Moscow to Eonigsberg, I; was particularly : struck by the. little patches of yellow and white—the villages —all new houses. The Russian peasant, freed from war, has now time to start rebuilding. Our small industries are. going well our. bigger industries are improving l slowly, notably our coal production is hampered by' the great devastations among the mines caused during our civil wars. Baku is now producing 50 per cent, arid Grodgny 80 per cent, of their pre-war oil outputalmost the same a3 Poland and ■ Rumania.' • ■ /. • ' i (l , \ "Trade between England ; and Russia is necessary. '* We have corn and timber ;to export; we are ready to resume our role of supplying raw materials \ and I foodstuffs, but without a trading agreement these things cannot he sold to Great Britaifir* ,■ .■ . :[ , ■' '■' ,' ',