RUSSIAN JEWELS

Patea Mail, Volume XLIV, 11 October 1920, Page 4

RUSSIAN JEWELS

WHAT PF.CAME OF THEM. London, September i'.S An entertaining story of the disposal of thelv'u sian jewels intended for the Daily Herald fund is disclosed by reporter sleuths. They stale that Mrs. Classman, an orthodox Jewess, and mother-in-law of Mr. Lansbury's son L'dgar, took charge of the diamonds. Mr. Lansbury is editor the Daily Herlad. She conducted the negotiations in the back parlour of her shop in Whitechapel, thence sending agents to Hatton Garden, site demanded £31,00«> for one parcel, and received £28,000. Another deal netted £:JS,0II0. The Evening News says the jewels were not only shown for sale in Whitechapel, but at least once in the house of Mrs. Ldgar Lansbury, to a -Parisian dealer, who did not purchase them. Sixty-seven thousand pounds were raised from two purchasers, while the total sales in a few weeks amounted to £IOII,OOO. The offer to the Herald was only one item of the Bolshevik subsidisation. A sum of £4i» monthly was paid by the Information Bureau to Rothstcin, an agent, to plaster the East End and northern industrial areas with posters. Money was also advanced to the Communist organisations in Scotland, who spread propaganda by means of "soap boxers," bar orators aiming to convert the workers while drinking. These received £lO and £2O weekly, and one woman said she received £JO. The scheme made little progress, as the workers were shy of hired propagandists.