PLIGHT OF RUSSIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21115, 24 February 1932, Page 10

PLIGHT OF RUSSIA.

APATHY OF OFFICIALS.

GRAIN CULTURE FAILING.

ELEMENTS OF CATASTROPHE. DISTRESS AMONG PEASANTS. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received February 23, 6.45 p.m.) Times Cable. LONDON, Feb. 22. The Riga correspondent of the Times says that unless a miracle occurs tho programme of grain culture for 1932 appears to be pregnant with the elements of a catastrophe. Discord within tho Communist party is gaining in tensity owing to the dislocaton of the agricultural plans. Soviet' reports dcscribo the position as most alarming, and refer to the necessity of feeding the distressed peasants in some areas. The reports declare that 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 are collectivised the peasantry have assumed a dangerously uninterested attitude. Conditions are 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 have "been left unguarded and have been plundered and squandered by the peasants.

SETBACK FOR SOVIET.

OVERTURES TO SPAIN.

' TRADE TREATY REJECTED

(Received February 23, 6.45 p.m.)

LONDON, Feb. 22

The Madrid correspondent of the Daily Express says the Spanish Government has rejected the Russian overtures for a commercial agreement which offered favourable opportunities for Spanish products.

The reason is that the Government fears that the establishment of a Soviet Trade Delegation in Spain would result in a permanent revolutionary hotbed under the official cover of the delegation.