RUSSIAN TIMBER CAMPS

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

Sni,—In the letter which you publish from Mr. Edward H. Harby in your current issue, he writes that he has drawn the attention of the Anti-Slavery Society to the matters of which he complains, but as his letter was only received a week ago, there has not been much time to reply to all his points.

I beg to enclose a copy of the letter which, after consulta- tion with the authors of the Report, was addressed to Mr. Harby yesterday, and I shall be glad if you will give it the same publicity as you have given to Mr. Harby's criticisms.

--I am, Sir, &c., TRAVERS BUXTON (Hon Sec., The Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society).

Denison House, 296 Vauxhall Bridge Road, S.W.•1.

June 23rd, 1931. 22nd June, 1931.

DEAR Sum,—In further reference to your letter of the 15th instant, about the report of this Society's enquiry into the Russian Timber Camps, I have communicated with Sir Alan Pim and Mr. Bateson, and am now able to send you their reply.

(1) You complain that in the Report on Russian Timber Camps a material part of your letter declining to give evidence was omitted.. The following is the complete text of the letter to which you refer, the portion omitted being underlined :- 8th April, 1931.

DEAR MADAM,—In answer to your letter of the 2nd inst. which, owing to the Easter holiday, reached me only this morning, I feel very strongly that there are no grounds upon which an investigation can be justified.

The allegations concerning conditions in Soviet Timber Camps have been produced by a campaign pursuing such obvious political aims that the whole thing cannot be considered otherwise than as a political " stunt." It is not necessary to have had, like myself, an oppor- tunity to see conditions on the spot to perceive the nature of this • campaign. I fail to see, therefore, what justification there is for an impartial body to institute an enquiry on such a basis, and I cannot consider an enquiry thus instituted as in any way justified by facts.

This is the reason why I do not feel able to accept your invitation to produce evidence at your enquiry, although, of course, I have no objection to your using either this letter or other letters from myself that appeared in the Press, and the statements of which being the result of nine months' personal observations, have been since confirmed by other foreign visitors.

Yours sincerely,

(Sgd.) E. BARRY.

You will appreciate that in referring to this matter we- were not dealing with evidence, but with a refusal to give evidence, and that our space and the time of our readers had to be considered. We doubt whether you will find anyone who, having compared these passages, considers that your point of view was misrepresented.

(2) It is certainly most unlikely that timber cut in a prisoners' camp near the White Sea should be intended for the home market in Russia, though we observe that this has been stated as a fact by Mr. Harby."

Referring to this passage in the Report, you say that nothing in the Report proves that the timber referred to was used for export, and that you have looked in vain for anything which might justify such an observation. We would point out that the observa- tion was based on the evidence of Mr. Stewart (p. 59), who said it was most improbable that any timber produced near Archangel could be for internal consumption in Russia.

(3) The passage of the Report on page 101 to which you take exception, after giving the number of sawmills in the Archangel district, their distance from Archangel and their situation, states that it would be a considerable task to visit every one of them. We greatly regret that you refused to give evidence, but never- theless, this particular passage appears to be accurate. At all events, we note that you do not contest any of the facts stated in the passage to which you refer as an example of gross unfairness.

The Report by the Society has no connexion with any campaign o r with the political or economic issues involved. As stated on page 119, it sets out the available evidence as to the actual con- ditions in considerable detail " in order that readers may know what it was and form their own conclusions as to its value." Neither the Anti-Slavery Society nor the authors of the Report had any aims other than the investigation of the actual facts relating to the industry so far as these could be ascertained in this country.

Yours faithfully,

(Sgd.) TRAVERS BUXTON. •

Edward Harby, Esq., 23 Kilgour Road, Honor Oak Park, S.E. 23.