THE POSITION IN SIBERIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 March 1918, Page 5

THE POSITION IN SIBERIA.

DANGER FROM GERMAN PRISONERS MAXIMALIST POWJ2II GJiOWING. SERIOUS POSITION POSSIBLE. Tokio, March ISIn the House of Representatives, the War .Minister stated there were !)4,(XH) German prisoners in .Siberia east of Lake Baikal, and CO.OGl) west of Baikal. Those in the east were uncontrolled and were trying their utmost to get arms. A thousand Russian Moderates, under General Seminoif, were opposing the Maximalists east of Baikal- The Entente might support Seminoll', but 'SeminolC's force was at present weak. There were also some Moderates at Vladivostok and Blagovestchensk. The Maximalists' power was growing. They are getting a supply of arms and ammunition, and should the German prisoners organise to support the Maximalists a serious situation might be created. THE REPUDIATION DECREES. ALLIES MAY CLAIM DAMAGES. WHOLESALE MURDERS BY SAILORS. London. March 18. Mr. Balfour stated that the Allies have forwarded a declaration to the Russian Commissary for Foreign Affairs stating that the decrees repudiating debts and coniiscating property, and other analogous measures,, are without force. They reserve the right to claim damages from the Russian Government for any losses to their respective nations. Russia has not repliedThe Daily Chronicle's Moscow correspondent says the Congress was a mere formality. The Bolsheviks have cultivated the art of packing caucuses to an unsurpassed degree. Hundreds of delegates will shudder at the readiness with which they consented to the Russian partition. Peace with Germany by no means implies peace at home. Wholesale Inurder is a normal feature of Russian life, SOU bourgeoisie having been murdered in a single night at GluIchov- The sailors at Sevastopol decided to execute a general massacre it. two streets inhabited by well-to-do people. Their' bodies were thrown into the sea. The widow of one of the murdere:l men asked a diver to bring up her husband, but after a minute's immersion the diver was drawn up, being on the verge of insanity. He said the bodies of the murdered had ibeen thrown into the sea with stones tied to their feet. He found a throng of bodies standing upright, swaying to and fro.

AMERICAN MESSAGE TO SOVIETS URGING- RENEWAL OF FIGIIT. New Y'ork, March 18. Seven hundred foreign-language newspapers in the United States, representing ten million readers, have sent) a message to tie Russian Soviet, urging a renewal the fight against Germany.

GERMANS AND FINNS. PLAN AN OFFENSIVE. Received March "20, 5.5 p.m. Copenhagen, March 19. The Germans in south Finland, largely reinforced, have planned an offensive with a view to joining tile White Guards operating in the south. LENINISTS PERSECUTING JAPANESE. Received March 20, 11.45 p.m. Pekin, March 19. The Leninists are plundering the Japanese in Siberia and their lives are in jeopardy. TJhey have also ordered a strict boycott of the Japanese. SLAVE-TRADING RUSSIAN SOLDIERS New York, March 18. The GlobeV Petrograd correspondent reports that Russian troops front tlie Caucasus have arrived at Feodosia, bringing many women slaves, bought in the Caucasus by soldiers. The slaves were re-sold in the market at from 12 to a hundred dollars, to be used as laborers and domestics. BOLSHEVIK COMMISSARIES RESIGN. Petrograd, March IS. Two Bolshevik Commissaries—M. 2>ibenko arc! M. Kolonyai—have resigned as a result, of the ratification of the j German peace treaty.