BADLY LET DOWN

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 261, 22 January 1941, Page 6

BADLY LET DOWN

PEOPLE OF LATVIA

EXPELLED BY SOVIET

A party of 170 British subjects •who were eypelled by a Soviet decree banning foreigners from Latvia have arrived in Sydney. For 11 days tlicy travelled 700 miles across Russia to Vladivostok in a train which was almost a prison, shuttered from the outside world. Extraordinary precautions were taken to prevent their seeing anything of the country and towns through which they passed. "Wore than 90 per cent of the people of Latvia voted for the new regime under Soviet control, but they are gloomy now and feel that they.have been badly let down," an Englishman said. "When the vote asking the Soviet to take control of Latvia was being taken there was a large Itussian force on the borders," one Englishman said. "At'teiwards the Russians brought a considerable amount of propaganda mi to the country, and the Russian Army was a political machine rather than a military force. "The Russian soldiers were astonished at the wealth of goods in the shops at Riga,, and quickly purchased almost the entire stocks of watchcs, clocks, textiles and artiticiai silks, which they sent back to Russia." The British Consul in Riga hired the special train for the expelled men. They were, not allowed to alight at stations, and their luggage was searched. I "As part of the measures to prevent our seeing anything, the train pulled in at Vladivostok between the walls of two high buildings where we could see nobody and nobody could see us," another Englishman said. "Later in the day we were sent on board a vessel in the harbour for four days. Each night a naval patrol ship passed up and down with its searchlights trained on our ship. When several other Britishers were brought out we were ordered below until the tender left."