Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 1940. FINLAND’S BRAVE EFFORT.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 March 1940, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 1940. FINLAND’S BRAVE EFFORT.

TN their penetration of the Mannerheim Line at Viborg, the Russians admittedly have made an important advance in their invasion, of Finland. By a. prodigal expenditure o lies and material, they have to a serious extent undermined and weakened the Finnish defensive scheme. If. is by no means established as yet, however, that the way has been opened to the complete subjugation of Finland. _ . The Russians invaded Finland at six points along the frontier from the Arctic to the Baltic, and of these thrusts the northernmost alone achieved speedy success in. the capture oi Petsamo, the Finnish ice-free port on the Arctic coast. Even in that region, the Finns, relying on. comparatively light orces, have prevented any considerable extension of the invaded area. Further south', two separate Russian forces which endeavoured to cut across the Finnish “waistline” and reach the mam railway to Sweden, Finland’s only land connection with the outside world, were slopped by the Finnish victories at Sulla and Siiomussal.ini. The three remaining Russian attacks were all directed against the Mannerheim Line, two of them being flanking movements north of Lake Ladoga and the third the frontal°assault which, though repelled elsewhere, has smashed into the western flank of the defences as far as Viborg. In three months of warfare the Finns have so outclassed their enemy in strategy and have shown such dauntless valour in withstanding overwhelming odds that if any reasonable balance of forces could mow be established they could look with reasonable, confidence to the outcome of the grim si niggle in which they are engaged. The prospect now opened seems to depend much less on. the extent to which the Finnish southern defences have been penetrated, than on the degree to which their total resources have been cut down in their wonderful stand against an enemy who is in a position still to bring virtually unlimited masses of men and material against them. There are elements in the situation which are definitely favourable from the Finnish standpoint. Much of the interior of Finland consists of forest, lake and morass, traversed only by narrow woodland paths. The'Russians have little enough hope of penetrating this interior area against the active and mobile Finnish defence. The weakness of the position from the standpoint of the Finns is that nine-tenths 01. the population of their country and the bulk of its industrial development, are concentrated in the narrow coastal belt, between the interior plateau and the Baltic —the territory which is directly threatened by the Russian penetration of the Mannerheim Line to Viborg. e Even in the south, however, all is not yet lost. Thus far the invaders have mastered only a fraction of the Finnish coastal zone. New and strong defensive positions have been prepared within a few miles of Viborg, and it is not in doubt, that the Russians will have Io pay dearly for each further advance they make. Relying as they do, on the use of massed forces, artillery and mechanised weapons, they will, have increasing difficulties as they advance in maintaining communications and the necessary flow of supplies over devastated territory. It counts for a good deal that the Finns are methodi-, eally destroying railways as they retire. Some withdrawals and readjustments of front no doubt are inevitable in the “waistline” region as well as in the coastal zone and north of Lake Ladoga, but so long as they have men to hold their defensive lines and essential material, supplies, the Finns no doubt will, continue to offer a stout resistance. It has to be recognised, however, that only speedy and powerful help from outside sources would give them any prospect of ultimate success. They entered the war three months ago with an active army little more than a quarter of a million strong and with limited reserves. They are pitted against a military power which ranks numerically and in weight of material as the greatest in the world. The small Finnish forces have been subjected already to an almost unendurable strain and in the absence of far more ample help than they have yet been given or seem 'likely to receive, the comparatively early conquest of at all events the coastal plain in which the population and industry of Finland is largely concentrated appears to be inevitable.

OUR EXTERNAL DEBTS. j CABLEGRAM from London on Saturday last referred to the flotation of a Commonwealth internal loan of £18,000,000 and to India ’s project, for the progressive repatriation of sterlingloans as indicating- the Empire’s lessened financial dependence on London, “providing- a fresh basis for hopes of a large-scale war time repatriation of Dominion securities.’’ However (it was added), it is thought that New Zealand cannot be brought within the orbit of any such plan for some time, in view of the political and economic difficulties which led to its funding scheme and imports control legislation. This rather sweeping statement possibly may be found subject, on a fair examination of the facts, to a certain amount of modification. The funding referred to presumably is the New Zealand flotation in London last year of a conversion loan of £16,000,000, repayable by annual instalments of £3,200,000, so that, the total sum will have been repaid by 1945. Carried out according to plan, this operation obviously will amount to the rapid redemption o£ a fairly considerable amount of overseas debt. All the more on account of the extent to which the position and outlook are complicated by the war and the financial demands it raises, the question of methodising- and continuing the redemption or repatriation of our overseas debts is well worth going into. Apart from the five-year loan of £16,000,000 just mentioned, New Zealand loans domiciled in London and totalling some £56.5m. will fall, due by 1950. Parlienlarly now that it is called upon to incur war obligations of an undetermined amount, the Dominion evidently is under an imperative necessity of working out some methodical plan of dealing with its maturing overseas debts. A. strong ease may be made out for the view that the interests of all parlies concerned. —oversea bondholders as well as New Zealand taxpayers—will best; be studied by making the whole of our overseas debts subject to progressive redemption by substantial annual instalments. This implies a comprehensive conversion and funding scheme on reasonable terms. Front the British standpoint this plan would have the advantage that it would permit of some limits being set to the restriction of imports which must in any ease be involved in the reduction of our overseas debts. If, on the contrary the whole of our overseas debts maturing within the coming decade had to be redeemed at; short notice, like the £16,000,000 conversion loanmentioned above, our ability to buy and pay for imports from Britain or any other external source woidd Io a considerable extent he wiped out. In the right conditions, the Dominion can both redeem its overseas debts and in a considerable measure maintain its import trade, but this implies rather more generous consideration than was extended in. the case of the £16,000,000 conversion loan.