TERRIBLE RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 April 1920, Page 5

TERRIBLE RUSSIA.

DEPLORABLE CONDITIONS. WOMEN ARMED TO THE TEETH. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received April 11, 5.5 p.m. London, April !). Sergeant-Major J. G. Gray, of Richmond, Melbourne, formerly of the Sth Battery, has returned from Russia, where he was engaged in the British secret service, mainjy in the neighbourhood of Petrograd, which he left a month ago. He describes the conditions as deplorable- There are practically no factories working, and food is very coarse and very scarce. A pound of tea costs six hundred roubles. The great majority of the men are still under arms, and Red women guards, firmed to the, teeth, are also constantly patrolling the streets. Even the smallest villages are under close supervision. Despite the appalling social conditions Petrograd is very gay. Trams are running, and there arc the usual theatres. Dancing saloons are filled with vulgar erowds, but gentlefolk are entirely absent. The aristocrats seem to have almost completely disappeared. A few are occasionally encountered in humble surroundings in remote villages, but the majority have fled. Many highbom Russian ladies have taken"refuge in Finland, where they are acting as governesses and clerks.

OUTRAGES DECREASING. It is impossible to estimate the extent of the anti-Bolshevik feeling in Russia. People appeal- to be afraid to express opinions, but open violence and outrages, of which lie saw many evidences and heard dreadful stories, appear less prevalent than formerly. Sergt-Major Gray wore peasant's dress and escaped detection. His carefully manicured nails once aroused suspicion, but his sound knowledge of the Russian language put the Bolsheviks off the scent. Sergt.-Major Gray, with other members of hi 3 party, on the completion of their mission, returned to Finland across the frozen Finland Gulf on skis, and encountered a violent blizzard. The temperature \va* 42 decrees below zero. \\ hile skiing on Lake Ladoga lie lost direction for eleven hours, finally, in a state of collapse, reaching a village. His condition remained serious for over a fortnight, and even after his arrival in Enginnd, via Helsmgfors, at the end of March.

FIGHTING THE BOLSHEVIKS. Sergt.-Major Gray saw servicß abroad, and after the armistice lie was on the roll of an Australian boat, when he decided to join a British lake flotilla proceeding to Lake Onega. The flotilla consisted of six 35ft. motor boats, and four 40-ft ones. Sergt.-Major Orav's boat was manned bv four Australians two South Africans, ami a New Zenlander. The cnw exchanged a bottle of whisky for an Australian ensign. They succeeding in capturing the first Boisheuk steamer, the Azod, and they hauled down the Bolshevik red fiV hoisting the Australian ensicn. On one occasion the so-called '••Aussie" boat backfired, putting her nut of action. The vessel drifted nil night Ion", and was posted as missing, but later It was discovered by an aeroplane, and succeeded in returning under its own power Sergt.-Major Gray, after three months on Lake Onega, returned to England, via Murrftunsk, when (he British evacuation of Russia was undertaken. He arranged for immediate repatriation to Australia and was proceeding on board the boat, his luggage beinjf 'already on hoard, when, in response to a telegram he joined the Russian secret service mis-sion.-Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

TYPHUS-LADEN THOUSANDS IN SOUTH RUSSIA. An account of the flight of thousands of starving and typhus-hden men. women and children through South Russia to the sea before the Bolshevik advance is given by Mr. Paul Williams in a despatch dated December 7, from Kharkoff, in the Ukraine (captured hv the Bolsheviks a day or so later), to the Paris edition of the Chicago Tribune. "With the shadow of Bolshevism creeping nearer every dav," he says, "this city, tli- lar?c=f in South Russia, is being evacuated of those inhabitants to whom it means death or semt-starva-tion to remain. "By tens of thousands they have been pourine southward for four davs, and the movement will cease onlv with the arrival of the Red forces. 'There are no*, enough locomotives and cars to take all; so along the right of way a wide path in the snow lias been beaten hard by the weary feet of those who have not enough courage to stiy longer. "Upon each back is a burden. Hour after hour they plod on, stopping only to wize widc-e'-ed at the slowlv pussinV trains, fairly groaning with their weight of humanity. "In each (''•--t-clasp coach are three times as many persons as there ar" nlaces. . . . ' The trucks marked *S Horses; 40 Men,' have R0 persons in *liem. Thev stnrrt in the coal trucks' like sticks n f "ivfl-vood on end, so tightly packed t" : literally there is not room enough for one more"For four davs the stream nf vehicles to the railroad stations has been uninterrupted. Ev.ery sleigh or wagon is packed with salvaged household effects. Tho children are perched on top and the adult members of the fumilv trudw behind with sacks. All bring their bedding, and some even the beds themi elves.

"Those poor profile, arc leaving because tJiey believe thnt with the Bolsheviks in KharkofV no more food will eome from the fnnt.li, mid the priee of bread will mount beyond their means. They remember how it. was last winter, when the Ukrainian Bolsheviks were in control, "The horror of travel has increased by the danger of typhus. Contact with one another is unavoidable, and contact may mean tynluis. "The disease is spread by the. louse, and no person travelling in Russia, nn matter what his habits, is immune from the louse. Yon may become inhabited in any first-class compartment, in the theatre, or by cheeking your overcoat in ft restaurant. The only way to avoid the louse is to avoid other persons—an impossibility, "I expect that several thousands of (lie refugees from Kharkofi' will be ill with tvnhus before t.hey reach their destination. The shortage of medical supplies is acute. Undoubtedly there will be many who will die without any attention, and others from insufficient care. The sii nation ean be said to be beyond control and pettinc worse."—(By courtesy of the Chicago Tribune).