RUSSIAN ATROCITIES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 883, 1 August 1910, Page 8

RUSSIAN ATROCITIES.

MR.-KOONIN'S MISSION. ". The. object- of Mr. P. Koonin,'in,his ■visit' to New Zealand, as explained by himself;, in, a. lecture' at His Majesty's ■Theatre last" night,-is not to get monoy, but-to 'make, known- the truth: about 'the-Government- of' Russia. ."I want to lay bclor'o, you," he said, "tho principles that.govern Russia, so -.there , is,;another massacre, you. may, speaK to 'your Government with no uncertain .voice',, telling],them that, as'a people,.' you'want .-io/show-. you*, disapproval, i ; aiid to , help in . stopping. the terriblei. deeds that '■. are being .. done. What- is to hinder- the whole world from interfering 5 to piitla'-'stpp-.-to'-'tho misdeeds' of the Government -Of .RussiaP Nothing.''.'; (Applause:), v. . -.-.'•- . Mr. Koonin had-a large and: appreciative 'audience. .."With a series of .Jan'tern'slides' to illustrate'-his remark:*, he.spoko of .the condition of tho peasantry f the oppressive measures, carried out by I a ruthless 'I bureaucracy and: a. corrupt, police 1 forcei' and tho lawful sufferings of -.prisoners and- exiles; Not only the : educated portion of .the peasantry, ho said,':but-also practically all tho A students,. ; and university, professors, were', sworii to .overthrow 1 tho preseVit machinery of Government and establish a free co-operative commonwealth. The-, system ■of '.'administrative'' orders' (i.e., arrests on suspicion), and the "examining prisons,". where evidence is extracted.by means of : torture, were dwelt . upon . by. .'the... lecturer. : : Speaking'of the violent methods employed by some of the revolutionaries, Afr.,Koonin .said ,thatihe had been', associated • with most of the revolutionary, organisations, including the so-called Nihilists, and none of them set up murder as an object. , • Tireir maiti purpose was to help their - fellows, oven at tho cost of their own lives. ..The societies were not responsible for bomb-throwing, hut even if they had authorised it, people should not judge,.them without remembering the local conditions. The first Duma was a democratic body, but the bureaucracy had the members arrested, and got a new Duma elected to suit themselves. .Nothing would-shift them except dynamite He, believed in Leo Tolstoy's teachings, but would not apply them to Russia. Thoso who threw b'ombs.were not, necessarily members of any organisation, but they were generally men who had been wronged and to whom lifo seemed no longor worth having. Such men would say, "I will.go out, but I may as we 1 take'some Grand Duke or Count'with me" Mr. Koonin also spoke, of the massacres of his compatriots. the Jews, and of tho efforts, in which ho had shared, to assist them out of the coun"Vn an illustrated lecture in the Municipal Concert Cliambor to-night Mr. Koonin will tell how ho and Ins comrades escaued from Siberia..