28 JUNE 1902, Page 18

The St. Petersburg correspondent of the Times forwards a remarkable

illustration of the depth of the cleavage between the Government and the cultivated classes. The new Minister of the Interior, M. Plehvkhaa advised 'the Czar to suspend the inquiries of the Statistical Department, prohibiting them by fiat in twelve great Govemmenta, and leaving to the elected Councils of the remainder the right of imitating his policy. The reason assigned by the Minister is that the very numerous agents employed in such inquiries must be competent persons, that they come in contact with the peasantryiitg their Tillages, and that theytherefore find "extensive opportunities for spread- ing revolutionary doctrines." .It comes to this, therefore, that almost any one in Russia competent to do a sum in arith- metic is a revolutionist.