BRITISH REPLY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 August 1941, Page 6

BRITISH REPLY

9 .MADE TO THE FINNISH GOVERNMENT BREAK IN RELATIONS REGRETTED. AND NOT CONSIDERED NECESSARY. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.45 a.m.) RUGBY. .Luly 31. The Finnish Minister in London was received by the Permanent Undersecretary at the Foreign Office this afternoon and was handed a copy of the reply which his Majesty’s Minister at Helsingfors has been instructed to make to the.recent Finnish aide memoire. The British reply is in the following terms: “The British Government has received with regret the aide memoire of the Finnish Government of July 28, announcing that the Finnish Government has come to the conclusion that the Finnish Legation in the United Kingdom should suspend its functions for the time being, as normal diplomatic intercourse between the two countries can hardly be maintained without complications. Far from this opinion being shared by his Majesty's Government, as stated in the aide memoire, the latter as recently as July 22 announced in the House of Lords that while the decision to continue diplomatic relations might at any time be reversed in light of events, it had been decided at present to maintain diplomatic relations with Finland, although she was engaged in hostilities against our ally, the Soviet Union, side by side with German troops, large bodies of whom were stationed on and were operating from Finnish soil. The action recently taken against Finnish trade with trans-oceanic countries, referred to in the aide memoire. was taken by his Majesty's Government as a result of the establishment in Finland of large bodies of German troops, and the consequent use of that country as a base for military operations. In these circumstances, it was clearly impossible for the British Government to continue to allow goods to pass through the blockade and reach territory which must be considered largely under enemy control. This measure was necessitated by German action and constituted an integral part of our war measures against Germany. Since it was not aimed at the Finnish people, his Majesty’s Government did not consider it need render impossible normal diplomatic intercourse between the Finnish Government and his Majesty’s Government. If the Finnish Government should now carry out the intention expressed in its aide memoire and withdraw the Finnish Legation from London, it would follow that his Majesty’s Government will be compelled.by the Finnish Government’s action to withdraw his ’Majesty’s Legation from Helsingfors.”