RUSSIA AND THE PRESS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 7536, 12 August 1903, Page 4

RUSSIA AND THE PRESS.

Expulsion of the TimesCorrespondent.

Mr Brabam, the St. Petersburg correspondent of the London Times, gives the following account of his arrest and expulsion: — A police officer called on me at eleven this morning (May 28th) and requested me to accompany him to the office of the police division in which I live. On arriving at the police station I was kept waiting half-an-hou'r, and then sent back in charge of a dvornik to fetch my passport. On presenting this to the police commissary I was again requested Jo wait. la answer to my enquiries as to the meaning of all this I was told that I was arrested by order of tho Chief of Police, General Kleigells, but that there was some doubt as to my identity, for the name in the order of arrest was not Braham but Graham, and they were waiting for final instructions. Further information was refused to me, and 1 was forbidden to send any message to anyone, even to my wife or thb Ambassador. After some delay a message came from the Chief .of Police that there was no longer any doubt as to my identity. A telegram was then read to me, which had been received at the police office from general Kleigells, to the effect that I was to be expelled from the country by order of General yon Wahl (Assistant-Minister of the Interior), on account of my hostility to the Bussian Government and the invention of false news. In tho meantime I was to bo kept under arrest and lodged in tho transit prison. I was given in charge of an officer, and was about to be conducted to prison, when a message came from the Prefecture saying nothing more was to be done until further orders were received. In the meantime I was to be allowed to write to the Ambassador, which lat once did. At the expiration of another half hour or so final orders came that I could be set at liberty on condition of signing a promise to leave Russia by the first' train to tbe frontier; in case or refusing I was to bo expelled in the ordinary manner. As there was nothing else to be done, I signed the required promise. It was a quarter-past one wheh f Was permitted to leave the police station, with' the' tyarhing that : a police officer would call for mo at'h'alfpast nine in the evening to conduct me to the railway station and see me safely 'laio the train. ' As soon as possible after my release 1 called on thd Ambassador and laid the wholo case before him. Ele had already taken steps in the matter, and at my 'reflues'! ijpmediately drove to M. de Plehye, the for the Interior. We both considered it possible tjiat tjje agfcipn against me was due to a mistaken impression that I was responsible for the publication of the letter alleged po have been written by M. de Plehve to General yon Eaaben in anticipation of the Kishineff riots, with which, as you know, I had nothing whatever to do. On tho Ambassador's return he told me that he had been unable to obtain anything more than an extension of time. I was to leave the country, but \vas given three days instead of eight hours to'settle my affairs. M. do Plehve had assured Sir Charles Scott tfiat tjje step they had taken had been in preparation for some tijue past, and the decision had not been in any way influenced by ( anything I had written with regard to

Kisliineff. No objection was entertained ' to me personally or to anything in par-; ticulartbatl had written. They, however,; disliked what they call the hostile tone \ of my correspondence, and of the Times in general. They said that from the' timo I had occupied the post of corres- I pondent in St. Petersburg tho limes had devoted itself to attacking Kussia and Eussian policy. They did not know whether I was responsible for this attitude on the part of my employers, but had made up their mind that the correspondent of the Times could no longer be tolerated in tho Eussian capital. They knew that this action on their part would provoke a great outburst against Russia in the British press, but they had well weighed the consequences of the step they were taking, and were resolved to read the Times a lesson. Personally they were very sorry for tbe inconvenience they were causing me, and desired the Ambassador to tell mo so. In order to allow me to settle my affairs they were prepared to give me three days grace. Orders were immediately given to t , '- c i effect, and in the afternoon a police olficer called upon me with instructions to make me sign a written promise that I would leave Eussia for over within three days, failing which I should be transported from station to station in company with other prisoners and eventually put across the frontier.