THE AALAND ISLANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17780, 13 May 1921, Page 4

THE AALAND ISLANDS.

The decision of the League of Nations Commission as to the ownership of the Aaland Islands is chiefly of interest because it marks the first application of the League Covenant to a dispute not arising directly out of the Treaty of Versailles. Racially the islands, populated as they are by Swedish stock, stand in very close relationship to Sweden; historically they belong to Finland, having been ceded, together with the mainland, to Russia in 1809. After the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and the proclamation of Finnish independence, the islanders saw Finland overrun by Red troops and thetnselves suffered from the attentions of both Russian and Finnish Bolsheviks. Under the circumstances they not unnaturally appealed to Sweden, and a somewhat embittered controversy took place as to their future status. On the initiative of the British Government this was referred to the League of Nations, which has now decided in favour of Finland. It is improbable that the League doubts the Swedish character of the population. Its decision is based upon the generous measure of autonomy which Finland has offered the islanders, upon the restoration of peace in Finland, and upon the circumstance that there is a large Swedish element in Finland which would view the loss of the islands with regret. Possibly also the League was influenced by the fear that if Sweden, the stronger Power of the two, controlled the islands, she might fortify them and so command the Gulf of Bothnia, to the insecurity of Finland, which shares with her the shores of the gulf.