IN THE HERALD
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday March 1, 2011
On the Eastern Front, German troops were penetrating Russian territory so rapidly it looked as though Petrograd would fall. The Russian Army was in such disarray that it was no longer a factor. The Bolsheviks, who had taken power under Vladimir Lenin the previous November, were trying to end the war but the Germans were intensifying the pressure. A detachment of Red Guards was dispatched to a small town 83 miles north-west of Pskov, which the Germans had already captured. They were desperately trying to organise stiffer resistance.Alfred Foster, a Melbourne barrister, was nominated by the Victorian Socialist Party to go to Russia to learn about the situation first-hand. Foster had joined the Australian Labor Party and had been appointed to the Victorian central executive. He had stood for Labor in the Victorian seat of Balaclava in the federal election of May 1917. But to get to Russia, he would need a passport. Neither the prime minister, Billy Hughes, nor the minister for Home and Territories, Patrick Glynn, were thought likely to approve one.In Ireland, the Sinn Feiners were committing outrageous acts in County Clare, which the Herald said were "typical of the utter disorganisation of the country". Two constables were assigned to protect a family called Merriman, Crown witnesses in a murder trial. They were escorting a family member when six masked men jumped a wall and knocked the constables down. The men shot and wounded the police.A bamboo booth at the Hong Kong racecourse, seating several thousand, collapsed and caught fire. About 100 people were incinerated and thousands stampeded, causing more death. The final number killed was about 600. The Herald reported that"no Europeans" were among the victims.
© 2011 Sydney Morning Herald