RUSSIAN FAMINE

Otago Witness, Issue 3518, 16 August 1921, Page 15

RUSSIAN FAMINE

APPALLING SWEEP OF CHOLERA. I.ON D()N, .1 r.gust 6. Announcements in the Soviet press confirm the appalling sweep of cholera. They admit that there are 150.000 cases of cholera, affecting 24 areas. The failure of the crops in Central Russia threatens 46,000,000 people with famine. | Sensational reports from Helsingfors affirm that strong military cordons suri round Moscow. Thev are using a poison ; gas barrage to keep the refugees out. Border correspondents of The Times wire that Red troops are savagely opposing the migration of the starving population. Fearful scenes arc reported in the Volga districts, where a majority of the inliabij tants are subsisting on acorns and grass. The Geneva Red Cross Committee proposes the formation of a central international relief organisation for the direction of all relief efforts. FOOD CONTROLLER. LONDON, August 7. M. Maxim Gorky has been appointed Food Controller of Russia. THE CHOLERA SCOURGE. LONDON, August 9. The Daily- Telegraph’s correspondent at | Viina reports that, despite the strictest ! measures against the introduction of infeej tion from Russia, Asiatic cholera is travelj ling westward. Eight cases have already i been confirmed in one Polish frontier dis- ! trict. At the end of July there were 330,000 cholera victims in Russia. THE MONARCHY BOGEY. LONDON, August 9. Advices from Warsaw state that it Is understood that the Soviet Government has despatched to Riga all American citi ze-113 hitherto detained in Russia. In other reflects the Soviet is hastening to j fulfil Mr Hoover’s conditions for relief in ! Russia.

Moscow reports that many agitators are misleading the masses by declaring that Great Britain and Germany are demanding the restoration of the Monarchyin Russia, their candidate for Czar being the Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovitch, who by the order of Rasputin gave -.he first impulse towards a revolution. A POIGNANT LETTER. LONDON, August 10. The Daily Telegraph has published a poignant letter from a Russian correspondent at Moscow. It reads: “What a pity that you could not have seen Kamenofi, nervous and pale, haltingly admitting to a meeting of people whom the Bolshevists had tried for three years to destroy that the Soviet was impotent to deal with the famine. Remember, the Government did not call these meetings. The slaves of yesterday met and demanded it, and such was the Bolshevists’ panic that they had to comply ; hence the creation of the non-political committee which sent out an international appeal. Although they are now forced to accept a-sistance from those whose destruction they have sought hitherto-, the Bolshevists have not changed their essentially malignant nature.” The letter continues : “Neither has the Soviet power to change the machinery of their monstrous administration. If food is handed over to the Soviet it means that the Reds and the drone officials get everything, and the poor people nothing. Whatever is done, outside organisations must control the distribution. The Soviet will oppose this bitterly ; hut it must not be otherwise. I think famine has given the Bolshevists the knockout. At 31. Lenin’s tea table they are discussing ways and means of escaping and comparing notes on foreign places for an asylum. England is much favoured. 31. Lenin is a wily bird, and he will take good care than we do not hang him. The real culprits are sure to leave betimes. We are their unwilling slaves. Maybe they' will yet be destroyed by the people’s first furious onslaught. The fear of famine lias gone too far. Great territories have become empty, and are overrun by weeds. God’s will be done. Forgive mv incoherence, but I am always hungry and depressed. Do not believe that there is a Government in Russia. The Soviet tyrants simply control the big cities, several railroads, and a little food. The rest is all chaos. PLIGHT OF THE CHILDREN. PETROGRAD. August 10. Special trains are removing 70,000 children from the famine areas. WARSAW, August 10. Terrible stories come irom Saratov (on the Volga), where parents are drowning their children to save them from starvation. GREAT FIRE AT PINSK. WARSAW. August 10. A great fire occurred at Pinsk (Western Russia). Over 300 houses and churches have been already destroyed. The forests outside the town arc afire. APPEAL IN BRITAIN. LONDON. August 10. The Imperial War Relief Fund Committee has issued an appeal signed by the Lord Mayor, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and many other notable people asking for help to Russia. The funds which are collected will he administered by the Red Cross. THE POPE’S SY3IPATHY. ROME. August 10, The. Pope in a letter to the Papal Secretary states that he has invited the Christians of the world to help famine-stricken Russia. A Dl> IN G UN 1' OILS A PP EAR. LONDON, August 10. The Daily Telegraph’s Berlin correspondent says that 31. Lenin, in a disingenuous appeal for help, seeks to make it appear to the Russian proletariat that whatever comes will be bv the efforts of the international proletariat and not from the capitalists. AMERICAN RELIEF WORK. WASHINGTON. August 10. Mr Hoover, in accepting an invitation from the Swiss president to send a representative to the International Conference of Relief Societies regarding aid for Russia, pointed out that the famine in Russia was beyond the resources of all the available private charities in the world, especially in these times of economic hardship. “Relief,” Mr Hoover says, “even were funds available for food, involves the rehabilitation of transportation, agriculture, and industry, necessitating measures which again are beyond the reach of charity.” Mr Hoover adds that each national relief society should proceed independently. The American relief measures in Russia are proceeding. The preliminary steps are being taken and he believes that the actual relief work will soon begin. The American prisoners in Russia are beginning to return to Riga. GOOD RAINS IN JULY. LONDON, August 11. The Daily Telegraph’s Berlin correspondent says: “ There is a more hopeful tone in the Russian situation. Rains during July improved the outlook in the Samaria government, resulting in a marked fall in the price of flour. In parts of the Kursk government the scorched fields were sown afresh, with good results. J he despatch of grain from these districts, where good harvests are reported, has already begun on private initiative. The crops are very -good in Turkestan, where a levy of corn was made for the starving people. There were excellent harvests in the Tzaritzvn government. This was due to the rainfall.” SUPREME COUNCIL DISCUSSION. PARIS, August 13. The Supreme Council discussed the appointment of an international committee

to deal with the Ru ssian famine. The Italian, Japanese, and American representatives had reason to believe that the (Soviet would object to organised control, in default of which the delegates feared assistance would be inoperative. Lord Curzon said it was Great Britain’s opinion that assistance should be given to the border States to carry out pro- j tective measures. hast year the League of Nations had se-cured contributions to combat tire spread of disease. This fund is now exhausted, and the Council agreed to ask contributory Powers to continue subscriptions. LATVIA ALARMED. LONDON, August 11. A message from Riga states that local representatives o.f the Soviet have assured Latvia that the latter State had nothing to fear from invasion by famine-stricken Russians, as the people are fleeing towards Siberia or the south-west provinces of Russia.