VISIT TO RUSSIA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21258, 11 August 1932, Page 5

VISIT TO RUSSIA

" CURE FOR COMMUNISTS"

MELBOURNE MAN'S VIEWS

A letter received from Mr. A. R. Mills, a Melbourne solicitor, who has returned to London after a 3000-mile tour in Russia, indicates that conditions in that country are deplorable. "I had more than hoped that unfavourable reports of Russia were untrue," Mr. Mills stated. "Unfortunately, it is difficult to write anything of praise. T saw . tens of thousands on the verpe of starvation Long queues stand for hours in the streets waiting for an issue of bread. Bread and coloured water, called tea, is almost all these poor Russians have to sustain them. They look it, too. Their clothing is largely rags, and in all cases of the poorest quality. It is not uncommon to see theso long queues waiting until midnight for bread. Milk is scarcely obtainable, and only a reckless person would drink it. "In Leningrad, with a population of more than 2,000,000, the shops are not better and seldom as good as a shop for pioneers in the back country of Australia. If I were to tell you about the bad -conditions of tho streets, tramcars, sewerage, or housing conditions, you would think I might be exaggerating the bad state of affairs. I mot there several Australian Communists and also some English and American Communists. They, with one exception, an Englishman, whose bona fides I suspected, were simply not Communists any more. I am endeavouring to get one misguided Australian home from there. Russia will cure Communist if he goes to work there.