SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 May 1940, Page 4

SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES

ADDRESS BY MISS VALENTINE. RED CROSS SEWING CIRCLE. An instructive address on Norway, Sweden and Finland was given by Miss E. M. Valentine, J.P., of Lancashire, England, at a meeting of the Masterton Red Cross sewing circle held at Mrs R. Page's residence yesterday afternoon. In the course of her address Miss Valentine, who covered a wide field of ’merest, traced the history and development of Norway, Sweden and Finland, comparing the peoples of the respective countries in temperament end culture. Miss Valentine explained in detail the situation of the now familiar centres of Norway, referring to the value of the port of Uarvik, which was connected with a narrow gauge railway, like the New Zealand tracks, to Abisko where Lapland. Sweden and Norway met. The railway brought iron ore from Sweden, as the Baltic ports were frozen up for the most part of the year. Miss Valentine stated that thd country was of a type which restricted agricultural development to the small areas at the head of the fiords. Norway had no coal but there were deposits in the Sptizbergen and Bear Islands.

Dealing with Sweden Miss Valentine referred to the industries and cultlire of the Swedish people, stating that in the seventeenth century Sweden was a leading power in Europe. "Finland has 60,600 lakes and .80.000 islands,” stated’ Miss Valentine, adding that it was ene of the cheapest countries one could live in. Dealing in detail with the development of the country. Miss Valentine commented on the Russian invasion and expressed the hope that right would prevail.