FINLAND'S LOSS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 94, 20 April 1940, Page 8

FINLAND'S LOSS.

"RED" AGGRESSION. FORTY THOUSAND FARMS. EXODUS OF POPULATION. Under the peace agreement which Soviet Russia forced on Finland, some 40,000 farms had to in.- given up. and 90,000 townspeople also had to find new hoin.es and new livelihood.-. The owners and inhabitants of these farms, wrote "The Time?" correspondent from Helsinki while tlie removal of the population was still in progress, were for the time being homeless and destitute. •"The Government have decided to transfer them to other parts of the country and to provide them with new farms, a problem of great difficulty at any time. It must now be solved by rapid improvisation. The unfortunate inhabitants of the Jos! frontier zones have reached points ot assembly on this side of the new border, where tliey cannot as yet be adequately fed or housed; but the Government m:d all public bodies as well a.- prixate limb and persons, arc concentrating I licit" energies on easing the lot of these victim- of tinpeace. Hut the chief problem remains t<> be tackled. All I hat can V soid with certainty to-day i- that the exiles are to be compensated and settled by the State, and that a large part of suitable State land is to l*c spiit into farms on which they ran .-eti'c. So far as possible they will become owners o> their new farms. Owners of estates are also showing an inci.nation voluntarily to ■contribute, part of their lands for the rescttle»"en* scheme. How the urban population of the lost territories are to be given new livelihoods is a problem which must be settled by radical measures, too. They can gradually be absorbed in the rest of industrial Fiuland, but until this process becomes effective they are bound for a long time to remain without any permanent home. Withdrawal From Hango. I have just returned (the correspondent wrote) from Hango, the seaport that is to pass next week into the possession of Soviet Russia on a 30-year lease, which embraces the whole of the slender peninsula on which Hango is situated, some islands, and a slice of adjacent territorr, the frontier of the mainland being sonic 14 miles from the town of Hango. All the roads for 30 or 40 miles from Hango are busy with the urgent traffic created by the peace treaty, for the territory to be ceded or leased was required to be given up within 10 days. The roads are therefore full of empty' lorries goini; ' towards Hango and of lorri.s laden with household effects and other movable property coming from the town.

Most of the children and n large proportion of the women had already been evacuated during the war. for was one of the chief target* for Soviet bombers. The damage done is certainly great, and nowhere in the town can one escape the sight of ruined buildings; but much still remains intact to be handed over with the kevs of the city in a few days' time. Most'of the remaining inhabitants have alreadv been moved out of the and" the houses, which are largely of wood, stand deserted with stacks of furniture and utensils waiting to be taken awav. Even hay. straw, and grain mav seen waiting by the wayside. Coffin on a Sledge. Prominent among the buildiues which have survived the bombing i# the chief Lutheran Church, built towards the end of last century; together with the Orthodox Russian Church, which is also intact, this monument of Christianity is now to belong to the infidel, perhaps to be given over to the service of the antiGod society, like many churches in Russia. Not far from" the Lutheran Church stands the tall, round watertower, which has als>> escaped the bombs.

Returning from Hango. we came to the beautiful fishing village and dimmer resort of Dappvik. famous, for il> long, sandy beacli. Here the scenes were on a smaller scale and much more poignant than in Hango itself. A housewife was busy packing, but at the same time she was baking large loa\cs of bread. When asked whv she was giving herself this cxtr.i work at such a, moment, as there was i.„ searchv of bread in Finland, she replied: "It is "such a good oven; 1 hardly thi-ik I -hall ever have such a good one again."

Outside another fisherman's home was a woman of about 30 with her thrcichildren ready to start for in unknown destination. On a sledge, among their few possessions, was a'coffin in which lay tho body of her husband. ll c t. a d fallen in the defence of Finland, aiid she would not leave his renin ins to the enemy. An elderly woman in.-ido another home had been crying, but she cheered up.with an effort and said: "For 32 years my husband and I ha\e lived and worked here. Everything you *ec, the liotue and all, has been built or made «it'll our own hands. It is hard to leave it, but I must not complain. Mv two <onhave come through the war .-afclv " Before the day was out this po.>r woman learned, however, that onlv oiv of her sons would return; the other h,,\ been Killed in the last few hours of Inutilities. Russians Moved in Fast, The difficulties of the withdrawal from Hango and its surroundings were largely due to the brief time, limit of 10 days They were far greater on the eastern frontiers ot Finland, where the time, limit was much shorter. I„ manT places the Russian troops were *o eager to take possession that thev w cre tr \. ing to move faster than xv'as provided for ,n the treaty. One of the moM difficult posses.Mon* to remove i„ ,;„ ' was the cattle. » n d many animal, fell jby the roadside: others «,.,„ l nilll ,.J,' shot and their bodies lav i„ „,„ The trams and caravans „ PIC "?*• above all things to pet the inhabit*, ! out of the area hi time. I The extent of the tragedy of these [hundred* of thousand, of uprooted IfeonJe ,* probably greater thlTt generally realised outside Finland and imj problem oi resettling these unfom, r,.T.-. coming as ~ (!oes on t ™ many other problems of Finland Z ..uiinJ to remain acute for a 1„ I1? ,' illl(> .wliatcxer help may come from ah,vL,H | 11 , c " nn< * 1* ?*** to ° often that nvhereas Finland, until recentlv needed chtefly arms, equipment and men the 1 immediate need to-dav i<= f or th a ~ l«ml form, of numaniUria^VsStan^