GRIP OF FAMINE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5367, 21 December 1928, Page 1

GRIP OF FAMINE.

MILLIONS IN RUSSIA. Remarkable facts about pr.esentday conditions in Russia are related in the latest Soviet newspapers to reach Paris, said the Paris correspondent of the' “Daily Chro'Ucile,” on October, 15. The “Red Situation” occupies columns of space, which is a clear indication of its grim seriousness. In all towns and cities the bread c’’rd 'has been reintroduced, because, as the Investia reports, the harvest of European Russia is quite insufficient for the, needs of tne population. In the Khersion province, on,the Black Sea, more than a-quarter of a million families, or nearly a third of chc population, are practically foo.dless. PRESENT-DAY CONDITIONS.

In Ukrainia about 1,000,000 people are in the grip of famine, and the Government is organising a relief scheme. In the Volga region, according to the Moscow economic, jour-, nal, thq harvest was very seriously damaged by heavy and unseasonable rain, in Siberia the crops were good, but transport conditions, are such that it will be impossible to transport grain in the necessary quantities to areas .in nejed of it.

AH the Northern provinc.es of Euro-t pean Russia will be put on severely restricted rations, during, winter, and official preparations are being made, to feed Moscow on bread made of chemically-treated bran.

This latter fact is revealed by a paper appropriately named Bednota (poverty), which 'states that the; process for, making this bread is being kept a secret by the Government bakeries. Some of this chemical bread has already been issuejd, and it was thought that it had caused the epi-, demic of stomachic and intestinal trouble in the c.ities. Bednota discovered that private bakeries had also been carrying out experiments in the production of bread, and that the common practice was to u'sp plaster-of-paris to increase weight—and profits. These plaster.-.of-paris bakers will be severely dealt with by the authorities. Inveptia, in an article on the food situation, says that the “bread lines” or queues at the Government bakeries are now three longer than only a week earlier. Such conditions are naturally having an ex-i tremely serious effect on the general economic situation. The buying of goods abroad isj to be cut down to the utmost limit; and large; orders for. tractors placed in the United States have been cancelled!

Then Investia also reveals a curious state of affairs regarding the vodka monopoly. Fox a half-starved people; the Government is going to provide more —vodka. A great new distillery is ,toi be built to double the production in Moscow, and even now the Soviet authorities receive a larger revenue from vodka than <]ii& the Tsarist Government. ! During the year 1926-27 Russia consumed 85,500,000 gallons; of vodika, while for 1927-28 the figure is over 100,000,000 gallons. That is only the official production, and the statistics take no account of the vast quantities whic.h tho peasants make and consume themselves.

In the north of Russia, Investia states, the peasants u'sje about 30 per cent, of their potato crop, and in the South 25 per cent, of their grain crop for the brewing of vodka. The Governtaent’s idea in producing more vodka is to make it so plentiful that the peasants will be ready to sell more of their crop to the authorities. Meanwhile the "Red! Ga-« zette” of Leningrad reports a great increase in drunkenness among the workers.

On Christmas morning in 1745 was concluded, the famous Peace of Dresden, between Russia, Austria, and Saxony ; but in the s,ame year in England it was war, ror on that day Prince Charles retreated to Glasgow after his ill-starred venture into England. r