RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 October 1918, Page 6

RUSSIA.

ILL-TREATMENT OF ANGLO-FRENCH

'"LET THEM STIFLE."

London, October 2. The Petrograd correspondent of the Daily Chronicle reports: When the commandant found the British prisoners he ordered the guard to drive- tliem back, saying, "Let them stifle; that's wiiat is wanted."

Subsequently the overcrowding was so serious that the British and French were marched through the streets to the Peter and Paul fortress, where the commandant at first refused them admittance, because the cells were full. Eventually the prisoners were immured in the bastion. The new arrivals, traversing the corridors, saw pallid faces peering through the peeping holes. The guards said they were mostly ex-officers. Most had been in prison over a month and iiad never been charged or examined. A foul stench pervaded the prison.

The British and French were broken into groups of eight and distributed in the already overcrowded cells. The latter, under the old regime, held a prisoner apiece, but now hold twenty. Prisoners were obliged to sleep on the stone floor, but were allowed to receive a few parcels periodically, but the food then was nearly all rotten, and was discarded, though rations were supplied only twice weekly. Some of the Russian ex-officers were absolutely and literally starving.

The British and French entered the prison on Sunday night and received no food until a small allowance of food was given them at 4 o'clock on Thursday morning. It was painful to see strong men trying to conceal their hunger. The correspondent's letter, dispatched the same day, concludes: It was heartrending to see the prisoners straining their ears whenever the clanking of chains was heard, raising hopes that food was coming. They were afraid to light the solitary candle lest there might he no light when the soup came. What the future has in store none knows or dares speculate. —Aus. N.Z. Cable Assoc. New York, Oct. 2.

The Washington correspondent of the New Y»rk Times says that Prince Lvoff, first President of the Russian Provisional Government, has left Siberia, and is coming to the United States for the purpose of explaining what aid the Provisional Government needs.

State Department dispatches from Stockholm report that passengers arriving from Petrograd say that the living conditions in Petrograd and Moscow are terrible, and foreigners' live 3 are in danger. They state that semi-starvation and cholera are raging in Petrograd. JAPANESE CAPTURES. Tokio, October 1. The Japanese have captured and disarmed many more Austro-German prisoners.—Aus.-Cable Asson.