RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 January 1918, Page 5

RUSSIA.

CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY OPENED. FULL POWERS DEMANDED. J DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC URGED. Petrograd, .Tan. 20. Official.—Comrade Sverdlaw opened the Constituent Assembly on Friday, There were popular manifestations in the street.®, but the soldiery sailors, and workmen did not participate, though' they assisted the Red Guards to maintain order. Comrade Chernolt' was elected president. Comrade Sverdlaw, in the name of r.ho Council of Soldiers, Workmen a.id Peasants' t'eputies, submitted a request thai the Council's authority be recognised, also that all decrees issued by the Council o£ People's Commissaries be recognised, pending a clear definition of the relations between the Assembly and the Council. -Subsequently the Bolsheviks and the left wing of the Socialist Revolutionaries withdrew. The sitting of the Constituent [Assembly lasted ail night. M. Tserotelli read a declaration by the Minority Social Democrats demanding full power for the Constituent Assembly and the creation of a democratic republic, proposing to erect a special instrument for regulating the existing truce and offering the belligerents to commence negotiations on a general scale. The declaration further opposes the socialistic and Utopian ideas of the Bolsheviks. The Assembly, by 237 votes to 146, decided against the immediate discussion of the Bolsheviks' declaration regarding peace, land reforms and workmen's control r THE ASSEMBLY DISSOLVED. Petrograd, Jan. 20, The Constituent Assembly has been dissolved.

SAILORS DISSOLVE ASSEMBLY BLOODSHED AT MOSCOW. RED GUARDS FIRE ON DEMONSTRATORS. Reuter Service. Received Jan. 22, 1.30 a.m. Petrograd, .Tan. 21. The Constituent Assembly was dissolved by sailors at four, o'clock in the morning. Many were killed and wounded,at Moscow owing to the Red Guards firing on pro-Constituent demonstrators.

ROUMANIA DENIES ALLEGATIONS. BOLSHEVIKS CLAIM SUCCESS. Petrograd, Jan. 20. Roumania's reply to the ultimatum denies the allegations and Lenin considers it unsatisfactory, The Bolsheviks claim to have captured 150 counter-revolutionary officers at Debaltsevo. They also claim successes against the .Ukrainians at Skrevskaja and Voroshba.

A BOLSHEVIK PLOT- - AGAINST -ROUMANIAN ROYALTIES. FRUSTRATED BY PROMPT ACTION, j Petrograd, Jan. 19. A relharkaMe plot has been revealed as the result of the arrest of M. Diamandi (Roumanian Minister) recently. The Bolsheviks, without the slightest provocation, sent troops to Jassy under the leadership of Rakowsky, a reactionary Bulgarian, with instructions to arrest , or murder M. Teherbatcheff and seize the Royalties and members of the 'iovernment. M. Teherbatcheff was forewarned and captured and interned the ringleaders, including Rochal, a student, the instigator of the Kronstadt mutiny, asd then secured the co-operation of the Roumanian Army, which disarmed 15,000 Bolshevik irregulars. A whole Roumanian division is now employed in chasing the Russian units who have deserted from the front and are looting and burning Roumanian villages. The Royalties remain at Jassy practically cut off from the outer world and sharing the people's Wr-'rhlpß. They have lived for months entirely upon tinned foods and bread three times a week.

DISTILLERY ENTERED. FIRE CAUSES 200 DEATHS Received Jan. 21, 6.50 p.m. Odessa, Jan. 20. A crowd entered the cellars of a distillery and drank freely and then fired the building. Two hundred were burned to death-

RAILWAYS HELD UP BY MOBS. FOOD HELD IT London J:in. 20. The Russian Peoples' Commissaries of Food and Communications draw attention to disorders and excesses at railway stations li.v soldiers and others. Tliev declare that the railways are in the power of the mob, and thig state of anarchy has disorganised the transport service, preventing supplier going to starving regions and to the armies. They invite the Council to take drastic measures to establish order. The commissaries announce the stoppage of main line passenger trains on numerous railways from January '2O to February 2, owing to the urgency of transporting food to the front, Moscow and Petrograd. JAPAN'S ATTITUDE. Received Jan. 21, fi.oO p.m. Petrograd. Jan. 20. The Japanese Embassy denies that tile Japanese have landed at Vladivostock, and declares that Japan does not entertain the least intention of intervening in the internal affairs of Russia. DIPLOMATS IGNORED. Received Jan. 21, C.'iO p.m. Renter Service. Petrograd, Jan. 20. Allied anil neutral diplomats were not invited to the opening of the Constituent Assembly. No Cadet member appeared. An All Russian railway conference passed a resolution in favor of the formation of a government responsible to the Constituent Assembly. ■ ALLIES 'PROTECTING VLADIVOSTOCK. Washington, Jan. 20. The State Department is advised that two Japanese, one British, and possibly one American cruiser are off Vladivostock ready for an emergency.