RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 May 1917, Page 5

RUSSIA.

ARMY TO TAKE OFFENSIVE. AMPLE MUNITIONS AVAILABLE. Petrograd, May 29. M. Kerensky, in an order of the day, enjoins the army and navy to bo in Teadiness to take the offensive. g M. Tabuboyitch, Assistant War Minis- c ter, addressing the Peasant Congress, j declared that the army was technically c fully prepared, and' had ample shells, g guns, machine-guns and bombs, but the < soldiers must be filled with warlike en- j thusiasm. ~ j Many delegates from the front assert- a ed that radical measures were necessary . s ECONOMIC RUIN. I X ONLY A MIRACLE CAN SAVE THE i COUNTRY. <■ '. j Received May 31, 1.10 a.m. E 'Petrograd, May 30. t The industrial crisis is so acute that the Minister of Finance recently stated that only a miracle can save the country ] from economic ruin and disorganisation ( of factories, due to the workmen's de- ( mands for higher wages, wTTich vastly ex- ] seed the entire profits.' They are still un- a satisfied, though airanorease of 150 per , cent has been cconcHded them. Com- j mittees of workmen control the factories, . hence the banks are unwilling to give j credit to the owners, who dare not charge higher prices for products and dare not close them down owing to threats of bodily vengeance. REVOLUTION'PREVENTS SEPARATE PEACE. Paris, May 29. French Socialists who have returned from Russia addressed the Socialist Congross and declared that, without the revolution, Russia wotild have made a i separate peace. Those directing the re- : volution were open advocates of an In- < ternational Congress for the preparation i tion of peace. it ' CONDITIONS IN RUSSIA. The following letter, whjeh appeared ' the other day in the Christchurch Press over the signature of Mr. W. J. Wil- ' Hams, of Sumner, may prove interest- ' ing and helpful to those of our readers who s,tudy more or less closely the cable messages concerning current events in the Old World:—"ln view of the alarmist's cables published in to-day's Press from the Petrograd correspondent of the Morning Post concerning the situation in Russia, will you allow me to quote, for what it is worth, from a private cable I recently received from my son, Dr. Harold Williams, who is the ! Petrograd correspondent of the Daily ' Chronicle and also of the Daily Tele- ' graph. The cable was sent from Petrograd on April 27, and in it my son says: 'Freo Russia immensely encouraging; dawn is coming.' Later events may have tended to moderate that optimism, but I think it quite possible that my son's most recent views were expressed in a Press ca'We from London, dated May 16. His cable to mo said: 'Self unwell j going for short holiday.' Where he went I don't know, but the Press cable from London referred to spoke of, 'a returned Petrograd correspondent,' and it is possible that it is my son who is meant, as he may have chosen England for his holiday. The cable reads: 'A returned Petrograd correspondent sayß: The Russian internal situation is ' bad, but not desperate. The military i situation was worse before tho revblu- i tion than to-day. The Army will con- i tinuo to fight. The Austrians and Ger- i manß have too much at stake in the i West to permit them to strike a blow on i the East front. Tho Coalition Govern- ; ment may save the situation.' "Another point is, worth i mentioning. The correspondent of a paper is not necessarily in sympathy • with that paper's political views. %Vhen It is remembered, however, that the i Morning Post is the paper most in favor with tho gilded Conservatives of the Old : Country, it will be quite understood that news of a breakdown of a Liberal i revolution in Russia would not be altogether disagreeable to most of those who read it."