STARVING PEOPLE.

Dr. Nansen spoke at great length on the subject of the Russian famine. His speech was an amplification of the statement he made privately earlier in the week, of which a full summary was published in The Daily Telegraph of Wednesday, The main points in Dr. Nansen’s address were that the Russian ports and railways would be able to transport all the food which could be obtained, and that the Soviet Government could, he was certain, be relied upon to fulfil the agreements that had been made. In proof of this, he mentioned that, in connection with the repatriation of war prisoners, he had sent clothing and equipment for 60,000 men into Russia, and not a single article was lost on the Russian side of the frontier.

His description of the conditions in the famine districts was harrowing. Between twenty and thirty millions are starving. They are reduced to such straits that they are actually eating leaves off the trees, and the deaths have already reached 10.000 per day, a figure which will be enormously increased when the rigours of winter set in unless the world comes promptly to the relief of the distressed population. Dr. Nansen proposed that the question of relief be referred to the committee, and that an urgent appeal be made to the Governments to provide the necessary credit with an organisation for international credits as trustees, in order to enable the Russian Government to buy food for its starving people.

The Emir Zokaed Dowleh (Persia) delivered an address criticising the Council’s report and agreeing generally with the views expressed yesterday by Mr. Branting (Sweden). Before the sitting adjourned, the President announced that a vote of the Assembly would be taken on Lord Robert Cecil’s resolution of yesterday with regard to the publicity of the proceedings of the Council, and that the resolution on mandates would be referred to the Political Committee of the Assembly for consideration.