48. Colonel NEWMANasked the Prime Minister whether he is aware that large numbers of Russians of the bourgeois or middle-class have, as the result of recent events, been driven to the sea coast in Southern Russia, and are in danger of being massacred by their Bolshevist 378 enemies unless they can obtain succour; and will the Government immediately despatch a sufficient number of ships to the Black Sea to bring away these unfortunate people?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWLarge numbers of refugees from the whole of South Russia congregated at Novorossisk before its evacuation by the Volunteer Army, and several thousands were evacuated largely through the instrumentality of the British Fleet. It is materially impossible to evacuate and maintain an appreciably greater number than those who have already been moved.
The Volunteer Army hold a defensible position in the Crimea, and His Majesty's Government do not consider that they would be justified in acting on the suggestion made in the last part of the question.