CHILD LIFE IN RUSSIA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17029, 1 May 1923, Page 8

CHILD LIFE IN RUSSIA.

BEGGARS AND VAGABONDS By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright “ The Tiroes " Service. (Received May 1, 11.50 a.m.) LONDON, April 30. The wretched conditions of child life in Soviet Russia are vividly described by the Moscow correspondent of a Berlin newspaper who has returned from Russia. “ Thousands of half-clothed children, mostly orphans, are roaming the streets.’’ he says. “ They are beggars and vagabonds—filthy and diseased. They defy the Soviet law against hawking and prohibiting persons under fourteen trading in the streets. The guards heat them, and sometimes a child of eight or nine is marched through the streets to prison, between huge guards with drawn swords, lik< a dangerous criminal. ' The prison authorities employ the most intelligent children as spies. The spies pester suspects for alms and overhear r heir talk. The children steal everything they can. The moral degradation of boys and girls is beyond description.”