RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 March 1919, Page 5

RUSSIA.

BOLSHEVISM MUST BE CRUSHED. GERMAN OFFICER'S PROPOSAL, FOR JOINT ACTION BY ENTENTE AND GERMANY. Received March IS, 7.30 p.m. London, March 14. The Daily Express' Berlin correspondent states that General Hoffman, Hindenburg's chief of start', on being interviewed, stated that unless Russian Bolshevism was crushed the Entente's triumph would be sterile. Bolshevism must be crushed forcibly, and the position re* quired a large Entente anuy marching shoulder to shoulder with the German army. This must be done soon, otherwise the next war would be between the Entente and the Bolsheviks in order to rescue European civilisation.—Aus. N.Z. Cable Assoc.

MASSACRE AT KLEFF. BOLSHEVIKS ATTACK THE INTELLECTUALS. Received March 18, 10.10 p.m. Helsingfors, March 13. After entering Kiefr the Bolsheviks murdered professors, several municipal officials, eleven journalists, Baron Ovsky (the Ukraine emissary to Paris), La Bolontny (an eminent surgeon), and Etimenko (a philosopher).—Aus. and N.Z. Cable Assoc. SUCCESS OF LETTS. THE BOLSHEVIKS RETREATING. Received March 18, 11.5 p.m. London, March 16. Lettish troops have captured Tuckum. The Bolsheviks are retreating. The Letts have reached the middle of Couriand.— Aus. and N.Z. Cable Assoc.

TYRANNY OF COMMISSARIES. (%■ RAVAGES OF FAMINE AND DISEASE London, March 13. News from Russia shows that the Red commissaries aro mostly ill-educated. Thcv condemn people to death without making any accusation and frequently assist in the murder of their victims. Starvation is giving rise to epidemics exterminating entire villages. The educational system is entirely disorganised by the Bolsheviks appointing teachers chosen by the students.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

BOLSHEVIK MURDERS, HORRIBLE BRUTALITIES. London, March 13. The Australian Press agent learns that the latest official news from Russia reveal-; that extraordinary demoralisation and appalling outrages are general. Fho British Consul at Ekaterinburg, as the result of a special inquiry in the Perm district, reports that the'number of victims amounts to several thousand, mostly shot; tortures usually preceded the murders. A girl aged nineteen, accused of espionage, was slowly pierced by a bayonet thirteen times in the same wound: she is still alive. Tn other cases the victims were wounded with a bayonet fifteen or twenty times. Forty-six priests, out of 300 in the Perm district, were killed. Sixtv-six children, taken as hostages, were mowed down by machine-guns. Tn some oases the Bolsheviks took a ransom from the relatives after the victims had beer, secretly killed.—Aus.-N Z. Cable Assn-

ATTEMPT OX I/KXTVS LIFE. Copenhagen, Marcn 16. Shot' fired from a house in Moscow injured Lenin's ehafTeur, but Lenin escaped.—Alls -N Cable Assn. BOLSHEVIK POWER WANING. London, March 16. Lettish troops are advancing towards Mitau and have captured Kandau and Zabel. The Bolsheviks are reported to bo retiring. Official dispatches from Russia state that Jf. Duc-herse formerly French ,Consul at Petrograd, has re-visited Russia. He reports that the military and civil power of the Bolsheviks is declining owin? to supplies failing, their followers hcin<: exhausted, tlieir paper money I mliK'l- !C s and the frequent desertions of peasant- troops demoralising the army. There are constant dissensions between the Soviets in Petrograd and Moscow and thr.se in the provinces. The peasants refuse to brine their stock; into the towns and are hiding their food. OfTd-ial reports from Vladivostok state that most of the commanding officers in the Tin,} Armv are Germans, who are introducing German methods. The Red commissaries arc n-ostlv -Tews. Tn order to prevent desertion the officers ire cnn;f-nitlv watched and their families are Veld as hostages Wdl-to-d.j famiiie; live in cor=tant fear of death. —Aus.-N.Z Cable Assn