STIRRING EVENTS.

Hokitika Guardian, 17 March 1917, Page 1

STIRRING EVENTS.

German (nfluence Crushsd Fiiiljr Details. (Australian & N.Z. Cetde Association ' and Hauler.)

LONDON, March 1,3. A correspondent, in Petrograd, describing the stirring events at the capital says lie lias been day and night in the streets for. the last three days auu seen long queues of hungry men, women and children outside the bakers; he has seen wanton firing outside with rifles and machine-guns; ho lias seen civil war in the main thoroughfares, yeit lie did not hear a single word against the war. Shortage of food and lack of organisation and -neglect of the most elementary precautions iu'e popularly ascribed to German influences, and there is a patriotic determination to exterminate these influences, fired by the recent killing of the monk Rasputin. When the conflagration burst- twelve regiments declared for the Duma and the people, and the naval barracks were opened to -enable ’the sailors’ participation. Describing the scenes in the streets tthe correspondent says that the troops were ordered to use rifles and machine guns, but they had only a few cartridges in the hells of I lie machine-guns, but the crowds were so dense that they fell. The riflemen yit-her hud a large number of blank cartridges or were shooting intentionally bad. The garden fronting the Cathedral was packed wth the populace when a large force of Cossacks came up. All kneeled and the Cossacks did not fire. 'rile people were particularly resentful against the police because several were employed on Sunday to fire on the crowd, in consequence of the refusal of many of the military to do so. Several of the police, including a high official, wore shot. Later several Guards regiments, numbering i?S.(X)O joined the people with ariis, ynd some of their officers were shot. Another Guards regiment refused to

The arsenal ami artillery at headquarters were taken and the commandant killed. The British Military Attache was there at the time, and was escorted to flic Embassy by a guard from the fortress. M. Protopopofl also entered, and this is now the headquarters of the revoluinary forces. The Duma members on assembling on the 12-tli. found an Imperial rescript sus pending sessions till April and thereupon the party loaders decided not to disperse find a historic sitting was held at

the conclusion of which the President telegraphed the Czar describing the-pre-vailing conditions and lie mentioned that tbc troops were firing against each other and requesting iha( a person enjoying the confidence of the country should be charged with '.the formation of a new Government without delay as any delay means death and we pray God that this is our responsibility and docs not fall upon a crowned head. .The Duma President .similarly wired the chief of staff General Alexiclf and the commanding generals asking them for their influence with' the Empcnn General Brusilolf replied“l have fulfilled nty duty to the Tzar and my Country.”

General Russliy replied, “I have carr icd out the request' of the President. and telegraphed the Tzar that the situation ie worse and urging immediate measures for to-morrow may be too - latte as the last hour has arrived when the fate of the country and the dynasty is being decided. Replying to a deputation from the nvolting troops who inquired the Dumas attitude the President, communicaieuto the revolutionists that the hour iiaa struck for a .change of authority in which the Duma would take a rnoso active part.

The President dwelt upon the urgency of preserving order, and the Duma had appointed a non-party committee with that object. Later more troops and armed citizens arrived at the Duma, where the guard was replaced by troops in revolt, who took over the charge of the building at 5.30. A revolutionarj escort brought in tnc President of the' - Council of the Empire under arrest, who was an ex-M blister of Justice and one of the prominent reactionaries. He was lodged in a Ministerial room in the Duma.

GERMAN GANG.. , REMOVED'ONCE AND FOR ALL

It was intimated that steps were taken to remove the so-called German gang once and for all. This news spread and the revolutionaries seized the hated Kresty prison after a short resistance* and all the political prisoners were liberated and were soon followed by other prisoners to de.trntivc headquarters which they

demolished. The archives relating to politicals persons and organisations wero burn-

Early in the afternoon Premier Golitzi.n telephoned the President of theDuma that he had resigned. The revolutionaries searched the houses of several Ministers and tho ' Council of Workmen’s Delegates nianifestoed the revolting troops and tho 6 factories, inviting them to attend a meeting at the Duma on the basis of one representative per battalion auu per thousand or less of workmen re-sepec-tively. They also appealed to the people to assist in provisioning the troops pend- ». wig the organisation of supplies. Civilians continu'd to arrive at the ’ Duma, some in motors and lorries ‘ bringing large resoves of cartridges, which were promptly distributed. To Preserve OrderStreets Now Safe. PETROGRAD, March 16 Orators from the Duma stops dwelt t on tlie necessity of the preservation of order and th'e need of the immediate resumption of work in all factories left the armies at the front be handicapped when on the verge of victory. The correspondent after listening to those speeches returned to the centre of the city where lie found the District Law Courts aflame, and a little distance off he saw sigma of a recent fight between factions of the guard with machine guns and rifles, but there wore few casualties, and generally the Government troops showed little reluctantly in accepting the inevitable. Telegraphing in the evening of the 13th the correspondent says that all the naval and military forces at Petrograd have now declared themselves on the’ side of the people. Troops from Cronstadt with a few officers arrived and joined, and the sterets are now perfectly safe, though there is an occasional exuberance of firing. There lias been a wholesale demolition and burning of police stations in revenge for the police, in soldiers uniforms, manning the machine-guns and dropping grenades from the buildings and houses. A naval brigade with British mnclii no-gunners retaliated with a sharp fusilade and broke into a hotel wliicli was used as an hospital. They arrested two hundred Russian officers and took them to the Duma. The foreign officers who were wounded, including Britishers, were treated with the greatest courtesy and transferred elsewhere. It if estimated ihnt the civilian casualties are a few hundred, mostly . wounded. The streets present an animated appea ranee, with troops and hospital vans. ; There is ceaseless cheering and a feeling of the deepest thanksgiving l'qr what , has been accomplished with so little bloodshed. The Minister of Justice refuged in i tho Italian Embassy, whence he teie- | phoned to the President of the Duma , to send a motor car to take him to ( the Duma Committee. 31. Dubrovin, the Black Hundred f leader, was arrested-and taken to tnc ( "Duma, and late last night ex-Ministor f Protopopofl: voluntarily surrendered. , Tho Commissioners of the Executive Committee of tho Duma have taken c over Ministries and other important appointments will be made. There is little doubt that th e Army is unanimous, including a number of officers of the crack regiments. 4 , f