The first session of the Soviets of this province is im full swing just now, and the burning question is, as usual, the question of land and land reform. The land is to be divided up according to the new laws of Soviet Russia. To understand the position here, one must' know that under the Tsar's government, the first settlers were each given a hundred dessiatings—about 250 acres each. Many of these have increased their holdings. The Cossacks also were give special privileges, each head having about 30 to 40 dessiatines. Of course, many of them have rented their lands to Koreans or Chinese, and have themselves shifted to the towns. All this is to be changed, and _—the the land, as far as possible, divided up equally, so that peasants with little land will be benefited.
The principle to be adopted is that no one person or family is to be given more land than can be worked by the person or family itself. Renting out farms is forbidden. The land is the property of the government. The thousands Koreans who have hitherto rented lands from the Russian peasants are to be looked after by the government, that is to say, they will be allowed to rent land from the; government itself. Otherwise, they would be put to great distress.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.