MAGNIFICENT STAND

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 February 1940, Page 5

MAGNIFICENT STAND

ELOQUENT TRIBUTE PAID

TO FINNS

URGENT NEED FOR HELP. SIR WALTER CITRINE'S TOUR. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, February 3/ Prominence is given in the British Press to an interview at Helsinki in which Sir Walter Citrine, leader of the British Labour delegation to Finland, paid an eloquent tribute to the magnificent stand made by the Finns, but stressed the urgent need for help, adding that a continuance of all possible assistance from Britain could be looked for.

Sir Walter Citrine also remarked on the difference between the damage done by the Russian bombers to workers’ quarters and to military objectives —the former suffering most as a result of indiscriminate bombing from a great height, which was intended to demoralise the civilian population. Sir Walter Citrine assured Press representatives in Helsinki that very extensive help was on the way from England to Finland, and he said he was sure it would arrive at a timely moment.

After an 11-day tour of Finnish industrial centres and war fronts, the delegation left Helsinki yesterday for Stockholm and Copenhagen, where they will attend a Labour conference of the four Northern countries.

The delegation twice left their cars and took shelter from air raids while traversing southern Finland toward Helsinki. While the party was quitting Helsinki by air for Stockholm Russian planes were bombing the harbour. “Mr Noel Baker, M.P., who is also in the delegation, said that Russian pris-

oners had proved that the Red Army lacked the necessary intelligence to cope with the Finns in the kind of battles they had to fight. He had a high respect for the Finnish army, and there could be no question but that the Finnish people were completely united. Nevertheless, very extensive help would be necessary for them. The need for help for the Finns is the subject of Press comment. The “Daily Herald” says: “If heroism and national willpower can save a small nation, Finland will be saved. But how long can even these stout virtues hold out almost unaided against unreasonably superior numbers?” The “News Chronicle’s” comment is expressed in the headline “Finland Must Not Lose.” The “Daily Telegraph’s” special correspondent says that if civil morale is to be maintained there must be more aircraft to fight off the Russian raiders, and also the Finnish army, which has been continuously on the tactical offensive under the most arduous conditions since the beginning of December, must be given a rest.