THE RUSSIAN FAMINE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2261, 1 October 1891, Page 4

THE RUSSIAN FAMINE.

St Petersburg. Sept. 29

Severe frosts have destroyed the Russian barley crops, Cattle are starving, besides being afflicted with plague. The Government having refused to supply seed for food grains, immense tracts of country have not been sown this year, The clergy in the rural districts are joining an army of beggars, and the women are selling themselves. The peasants are highly indignant at the apparent apathy of the Czar, and threaten to take the law into their own hands, stating that they have supported him in luxury too long. It is expected that the famine will be at its height in November, and the alleged reserve supplies of food have been found to be non-existent. Ten thousand of the peasantry have petitioned the Czar for leave to emigrate from the country. It is. expected that the famine will reduce, the Russian revenue by a hundred million roubles. LABOUR TROUBLES. London, Sept. 27. The strike of labourers at Carron Wharf is assuming serious dimensions. The dispute is about payment for the dinner hour. Sept. 28. The strikers at Carrou's wharf held a demonstration yesterday in London, at which the speakers foreshadowed a repetition of ; the London dock strike. Mr Wilson, secretary of the Seamen's Union, Skipton, and T. McCarthy all , spoke in a style implying that Great Britain is on the eve of a gigantic labour revolt, involving a strike of half a million workers. A demonstratian of twenty thousand men belonging to the building trade was also " f held in Hyde Park. Resolutions were passed pledging the meeting to support the, carpenters, and demanding the dismissal of Mr'Elan, the Police Magistrate,on account of his severity to' strikers. —.—«- —. — ARRIVAL OF GENERAL BOOTH. The Melbourne correspondent of the Otago Daily Times says :—-Saturdayafternoon was unfortunately pouring ■wet —a steady soaking rain" : but still the Wairarapa was crowded by about 1000 Salvation lads and lasses going down the bay to welcome the General. "'They cared not a jot if it rained or not,' they sang," says the report, " or shouted ; or burst forth into cries of 'Hallelujah' or 'Glory,' as the fancy struck them, with undiminished hope, and with unflagging vigour'. They- reminded each other at intervals of a minute or so that ' The General was coming, God bless him,' and that' they were so happy, praise the Lord.' On the flooded decks over a thousand people—men, women, and children in arms—were packed so closely that moving was almost an impossibility—so squeezed, and jostled, and elbowed, that to ordinary beinga the trip must have been one long endurance of physical discomfort, even of absolute physical pain. And yet no company of pleasure seekers,, bound on a joyous voyage under summer skies, could have shown themselves more conspicuously ' contented and happy than these thousand Salvationists, with their flaring garb and their uncouth cries and gestures. At no moment of the trip was there an instant's lull in the uproar. Twenty different prayer meetings were going on simultaneously at scarcely so many paces apart. Men and women were singing, exhorting, confessing, shouting ' Hallelujahs' and < Glories,' breaking into the most fantastic gestures, without method or order. It was an intoxication a religious saturnalia, in which the dominant note was jubilation, and the cry heard above all others was «Hallelujah.' " And then follows a wonderful description of the Army drummer, who beat his instrument with such superhuman energy that "he seemed to be surrounded by a halo, of flying drumsticks"; and yet in the evening was as fresh and full of energy as he had been 10 hours before. How when at last ori ilie Pateena sight was caught of the General, the crowd went suddenly mad, embraced each other, danced on deck, and laughed and wept, the report goes on to tell in the most inspiriting style : "and the thousand voices took up the chorus : Hurrah for the blood and fire, The loyal, brave, and true; , . We'll make the devil hum, | Until Kingdom come, 'Neath the yellow, red, and blue. When the excursionists at length got him on board the Wairarapa, the prayer meetings went on with greater fervour than ever. The General was tired, and in one of the cabins threw himself upon a couch in a sort of public privacy. The door was blocked up with curious faces; poke bonnets and army caps stared at him through every porthole. " That's him," « That's the General," " Hallelujah," « Oh, Praise the Lord," " Glory," " We're so happy " —these were the continual cries, mingled with the noise of the struggle between those who wanted to get out and the hundreds who were trying to force their way to the cabin door, " for a peep, only a peep." It was 10 o'clock at night before the General, after a monster pro- • cession up Collins street, reached the exhibition building, where he could only say a few words to the vast crowd. Next day (Sunday) there were two services of the usual Salvation kind, which, of course, were very largely attended. There was nothing in the General's remarks worth jraportmg at a distance.