REPLY TO FINNS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20622, 1 August 1941, Page 6

REPLY TO FINNS

BRITISH ATTITUDE DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS BREAK NOT NECESSARY (Elec. Tel Copyright—United Press Assn.) (British Oflicinl Wireless.) Reed. 1.30 p.m. RUGBY. July 31 The Finnish Minister in London was received by the Permanent Undersecretary at the Foreign Office this afternoon and handed a copy of the reply which His Majesty’s Minister ai Helsingfors has been instructed to make to the recent Finnish aide memoire. The British reply is in the following terms: “The British Government received with regret the aide memoire of the Finnish Government of July 28, announcing that the Finnish Government had come to the conclusion that the Finnish Legation in the United Kingdom should suspend 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 an aide memoire as recently as July 22, and announced in the House of Lords, while the decision to continue diplomatic relations might at any time be reversed in the light of events, they 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 arc stationed on and operating from Finnish soil. German Military Operations "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 ol German troops and the consequent use of that country as a base for military operations. "In these circumstances it is clearly impossible for the British Government to continue to allow goods to pass through the blockade and reach territory which must be considered as 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 now carryput the intention expressed in the aide memoire and withdraw the Finnish Legation from London, it follows, that His Majesty’s Government will be compelled by the Finnish Government’s action to withdraw His Majesty's Legation from Helsingfors."