GREAT FAMINE.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 July 1921, Page 5

GREAT FAMINE.

TRAGEDY OF RUSSIA., !

MILLIONS STARVING. SINISTER POSSIBILITIES, By Telegraph.—Press Assn.-rCopyrlght. Received July 22, 9.55 p.m, London, July 22. Tens of millions of people are threatened with starvation in Russia owing to drought and the failure of the crops in the south-east, which includes the most fertile regions. In many areas the devastation has been completed by swarms of locusts.

The Press does not disguise the apj palling conditions. It is stated that the [peasants, having no hope of obtaining ' seed, were not preparing for autumn ■ sowing. When a famine became a certainty the population was seized with panic, and whole provinces are on the move, hordes moving in all directions, not knowing where they are going. They were received with hostility everywhere, and numerous conflicts are occurring. The failure of the crops threatens a complete stoppage of industry. The Moscow newspaper Pravda admits that the country is faced by a catastrophe, owing to the closing down of the coal pits and oilfields, affecting other branches of centralised and nationalised industry. The whole economic system of the Bolshevik regime is in danger of a complete collapse.

The Times, editorially, sounds a note : of warning. It says: “In this dire ca- : lamity we see the possibility of grave • political complications, especially signi- • ficant in view of the Silesian problem.” ' The Times questions whether the Bolshevik leaders will be able to retain ! control of the population driven to desperation by hunger. Neighboring States are anxiously watching events, and representatives of Poland. Latvia, Finland, ’ and Esthonia are at present meeting at i Helsingfors to determine a common po- \ licy for dealings with Soviet Russia. I

‘With dissensions among the Soviet leaders here and revolting there, while the starving famine is undermining all coherency of policy, it is impossible to calculate what sudden move the Bolsheviks may make in a dire extremity,” adds the Times. ’Viewed thus, the Silesian question is linked with sinister possibilities, and never was it more necessary that the Entente should demonstrate its whole-hearted unity.”—Times

Service. Stockholm, July 21. Twenty-five million Russians are threatened with starvation. Riots have occurred in some districts. Paris, July 21. A committee of the Russian Const 1 - tuent Assembly, an anti-Soviet organisation, has issued an appeal to the peoples and Governments of the civilised world on behalf of Russia’s hunger and disease-stricken people, requesting all Governments to make common cause with the Soviet in fighting the menace. It suggests methods of concerted action which will not strengthen the Connnun- > ists’ power and urges ‘hat political con- ■ siderations should not be regarded be- ! cause the lives of millions are jeopard-, ised.