STARVING RUSSIA

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10993, 31 August 1921, Page 6

STARVING RUSSIA

THE RELIEF WORK SOVIET SEEKS A £10,000,000 CREDIT. FEEDING THE CHILDREN. Australian and N.Z. Cable (Received August 30, 5.5 p.m.) RIGA, August 30. Dr. Nansen has concluded an agreement with tho Soviet, embracing tho operations of all voluntary famine relief organisations, and the feeding of tho children of Saratotf has begun. Seven million poods of rye for seed and one and a. half million tons of wheat and rye for food are urgently needed in tile Volga district, alone. The Soviet declares that it is able to transport those quantities. Dr. Nansen points out that the needs are so great that the combined efforts of international charitable organisations will he unable to prevent appalling misery. The Soviet has requested Dr. Nansen to approach European Governments with a view to securing a credit of £10,000,000 for the purchase of seeds and food, and has given him wide powers of distribution if the money is forthcoming. “ ATMOSPHERE OF DEAIH " STARVING PEOPLE DREAD COMING WINTER. A DESPERATE SITUATION. LONDON, August 29. The “Morning Post” publishes tile following letter, received from a famous Moscow actress of international repute: “The tragedy of life here is that none of us are normal human beings. We are ghosts from another world. The standards of normal life cannot be aipplied to Russians. The immediate problem is what I am going to sell today ; .wbat can I sell to gat half a pound of bread and a piece of fish, and what am I going to do if I cannot sell anything? ' We are living in an atmosphere,at deathj and we know there is no salvation. Wo feel that w© are lepers, condemned to slow and inevitable death.. My. life As narrowed down to a desperate fight for a scrap of food. At the present prices the mimmium cost of living is two million roubles a month. This is normally two hundred thousand sterling; but £3O sterling is the present rate of exchange for a rouble. Nobody is buying anything excepfc iewaHery, 'iand'T paited with mine ‘long ter, with rao heating, water, or drainage, practioaifTy no -clothes left, and now famine and disease.?’ STARvTnG CmiDHESi AMERICA PAN FEED A MILLION. LONDON, August 29. A Russian wireless message states that over nine million children are now starving, and the prosperous provinces eon receive only 48,000 of them. (Received August 30, 10.30 p.m.) PARIS, August 29. Mr Brown, head of the American relief committee fot Russia, states that the Americans can undertake to feed a million children throughout the winter. APPEAL FOR RELIEF MISSION NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE RUSSIA. LONDON, August 29. A noLt-political committee, apointed by the Soviet, including Count Leo Tolstoy, to visit the various European countries,/ with a view to. giving a true account of the famine conditions and appeal for relief, has been refused permission to leave Russia.