The Bakou Refugee Committee has just forwarded several further consignments of 10,000 quilts, 12,000 mattresses and sacks, 12,000 pillow cases, 600 jackets, 3,000 shirts, 3,000 pairs of drawers; and the Tiflis Committee, 400 quilts, 4,000 mattresses, 4,000 pillow cases, 200 jackets, 1,000 shirts and 1,000 pairs of drawers, to the Governors of Elizavetpol and Erivan, to be served out to the refugees. The latter Committee has also sent several bales of clothing to Persia and to Turkish Asia Minor for the refugees, but according to the newspapers a large proportion of the fugitives are still in utmost poverty—destitute, to a very great extent, of the absolute necessities of existence.
Seventy-six railway truck loads of flour, of which 53 were for the needs of the Armenian Refugees in the Government of Erivan and 23 for the use of those in the Government of Elizavetpol, left Gulevich in the Northern Caucasus a few days ago. These trucks, under ordinary conditions, should already have reached their respective destinations.
Owing to anticipated heavy snow drifts at the Akhta Pass (Kars-Karakeliss direction), the Zemstvo Union gave orders a few days ago that all its refugee victualling and provisioning stations should be moved to Igdir.
According to information obtained by Mr. Sarebey, the Dragoman of the Vice-Consulate at Van, from the Armenian Bishop of Erivan and from various other data he has been able to procure on the spot, the number of Armenian refugees in the Caucasus is 173,038, of whom 105,000 are from the Province of Van; 48,000 from the districts of Alashkerd, Bayazid and Passin; and 20,038 from Moush, Boulanik, &c., &c.
They are housed as follows:—
| Government of Erivan:— | |||
| Town of Erivan | 18,820 | ||
| Villages in the neighbourhood of Erivan | 14,680 | ||
| Market town of Vaharshapat | 5,360 | ||
| Villages of the district of same name | 22,730 | ||
| Town of Nahichevan | 271 | ||
| District of Nahichevan | 468 | ||
| Igdir | 1,028 | ||
| Surmalin | 7,342 | ||
| Town of Alexandropol | 8,450 | ||
| Villages in the neighbourhood of Alexandropol | 14,121 | ||
| Sharori | 268 | ||
| Town of Novo-Bayazid | 1,164 | ||
| Villages of Novo-Bayazid district | 10,336 | ||
| ——— | 105,038 | ||
| Government of Elizavetpol:— | |||
| Town of Elizavetpol | 12,000 | ||
| Villages, district of Elizavetpol | 5,000 | ||
| District of Karabagh | 1,000 | ||
| ——— | 18,000 | ||
| Province of Kars:— | |||
| Town of Kars and adjacent villages | 26,000 | ||
| Karakeliss | 4,000 | ||
| ——— | 30,000 | ||
| Government of Tiflis:— | |||
| City of Tiflis | 5,000 | ||
| Villages of the district of Tiflis | 3,000 | ||
| ——— | 8,000 | ||
| Northern Caucasus (probably the Armenian town of Nahichevan-on-Don) | 12,000 | ||
| ——— | |||
| Grand total | 173,038 | ||
| ——— | |||
The number of refugees in the Caucasus from Khoi and Salmas is small, about 1,000. They are housed principally at Nahichevan and a few at Erivan.
The foregoing figures differ from those obtained from an official source, which put the number of refugees in the Caucasus, in round figures, at 140,000. The data now procured by Sarebey, who is on the spot, originating as they do from Armenian sources and being in greater detail, are likely to be more correct than the information then furnished.
Reports received through the newspapers from Colonel Termen state that the situation at Van has recently improved. It would appear that 6,000 refugees have returned to the town, which has been subdivided into four police districts. Strict measures to prevent further pillage and destruction of property have been introduced at Van. Ordinary necessaries of life are procurable, although only in very small quantities. Some threshing machines and four or five flour mills have resumed work in the district, with the result that several bakeries have reopened.
All persons, organisations and other bodies in the Caucasus and elsewhere that have Armenian orphans from Van and its district in their care, have been requested to furnish particulars to the Governor of Van in regard to the names, ages, parentage and native places of the orphans in their charge. Also, where possible, information is asked for as to any property their deceased parents may have possessed, in order to enable the authorities to institute a search for, and appoint guardians to protect, such property.