FAROES OCCUPIED.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 118, 17 April 1940, Page 7

FAROES OCCUPIED.

NO STATEMENT ON GREENLAND. (British Official Wireless.) Received April 17, 10.10 a.m. RUGBY, April JO. British forces had been landed in the Faroe Islands, stated Air R. A. Butler (Foreign Affairs Under-Secre-tary), in reply to a House of Commons question. In reply to a communication from the British Government, the Governor of the Faroe Islands had agreed under present circumstances to grant facilities as might be required to prevent the Germans establishing themselves in the Faroe Islands. No statement could yet be made on Greenland. Greenlanfl. the large island which lies mainly within the Arctic Circle north-east of Canada, has long been under HiR sovereignly of Denmark, although this is only effective over a small part of tho island. After t.he Great War Denmark took steps to extend her authority, hut this was challenged by Norway, which took possession of part of East Greenland in 1930. In 1931 the matter was referred for decision to the International Court of Justice at, I The Hague. Several expeditions have explored the interior of Greenland, the inhabitants of j which are Eskimos. The coast is character- j bed by rugged cliffs rising sheer from tho ocean, with indentations, piercing inland | in some cases for nearly 100 miles. There j are extensive fishing grounds, and the ! main trade is in whale and seal oil. furs, cryolite and eiderdown. The population in 1930 was 16,630.