“CONSTANTLY ALERT”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21244, 27 January 1931, Page 9

“CONSTANTLY ALERT”

RUSSIANS APPREHENSIVE. THE MENACE OF WAR. (United . Press Association.) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) . . LONDON, January 25. (Received Jan. 26, at 9 p.m.) Claiming to be the only British newspaper man who has been admitted to Russia for more than a year, Mr C. J. Ketchum, the Daily Express special representative, declares that apprehension of an impending war hangs every hour over the Kremlin. A high official of the Soviet Foreign Office confided the reason for the fear. He said that neither Poland, Rumania, France, nor England was expected to declare war, yet in the not distant future another Soviet ambassador would be assassinated at Warsaw. Simultaneously there would be an incident on the Russo-Polish frontier, provoked by roving bands of White Russians. Russia would have no alternative' but to declare hostilities. Then 60,000 White Russians would march across Europe, upon which France would despatch officers, aeroplanes, and artillery. They would be helped by Bolshevist enemies in Germany, England and America, and by their money. “1 tell you it is as clear to us as the stars in heaven. Our confidential reports from Paris and. from, Berlin tell us that the precise moment chosen by our adversaries cannot be stated, but the menace compels us to be constantly alert and always in a state of preparation.” ■ Contrasting his visit with one of three years befpre,.when the shops were laden with provisions and there were motor cars in the streets, while the women were comparatively well dressed, Mr Ketchum says: “No longer are the public shops accessible to the man in the street. Workers stand in icy streets unending queues in front of State rationing shops for meat that does not come. There is black and grey bread, but eggs, milk, butter and cheese are available in most meagre quantities. Working clothes are purchased by certificates which are provided in cases of urgency and' vouched for. A woman’s ordinary shoes cost £lB to £2O. In Moscow 3,000,000 people have crammed into the city, which is equipped with houses for not more than 1,000,000. It is a common experience to find 1000 men and women crowded into an apartment of 60 rooms.”