MURMAN RAILWAY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14665, 24 July 1918, Page 3

MURMAN RAILWAY.

AVENUE OF ALLIED AID

WHY GERMANY WANTS CONTROL

LONDON, July 5. Reuter's correspondent at Amsterdam states that the uneasiness felt in Germany regarding the Murman coast in indicated by an article in the Norddeutscher' Allgemeiue Zeitung" declaring that it is not believed that British action on a great scale from the direction of the Arctic Sea has yet been decided. The article says that England has probably kept open this northern door for the purpose of invasion, but Finland, with Germany's assistance, will know how to meet the threatened danger.

Telegrams from Helsingfors state that a German expeditionary force numbering 50,000 ia concentrated on tho Fin-nish-Russian frontier, which German patrols are reported to have crossed on June 27.

The communications of the force, through 125 miles of wilderness, are most difficult.

Tho Times correspondent at Stockholm states that events are developing rapidly in Finlan'd, and hostilities may commence at any time, both in Murman and East Carelia. The principal objective is the seizure of a base on the Murman railway, from which to operate against Kola.

The. Finns will march on Petchenga. Well-informed critics state that a clique of nationalists, militarists, and politicians has driven Finland alongside Germany against the country's wishes, hoping to realise the dream of a greater Finland, regardless of the cost of Germany's aid.

The Murman coast is the correct name of the north-eastern coast, 270 miles long, of the Kola Peninsula. This peninsula is the eastern part of Lapland, and forms . a sort of "knob" jutting out from the port of Kola, or Ekaterina harbor, enclosing, between itself and the mainland, the White Sea. It would probably not have acquired any importance in the war but for two circumstances, one of which arises out of the other. The chief and original one is that the coast is washed by a sluggish but still warm Gulf stream current which, crossing the Arctic circles sweeps round the north of Sweden and enters the Arctic Sea. It is directed smoothly along the slight curve of the Murman coast, with the result that the sea here never freezes, and even. in the inlet upon which stands the port of Kola, or Ekaterina harbor, the ice is •seldom sufficient to interfere seriously with shipping. The White Sea, round which the Peninsula juts, and upon which is situated the important Port of Archangel, is invariably ice-locked for several months every winter. For economic as well as strategic reasons, the Russians, seeking a port available all the year round, began several years ago to build a railway to join the main system with^ Akatcrina harbor, parallel to- the old single railway to Archangel ; anaV this railway, of enormously enhanced value in war time, was completed during the war. This is the railway upon which the rivals for power in .'the north of Russia now have their energies centred, with the object of controlling the port and transit to and from the 1 heart of Russia. Ekaterina is now a great port, Containing a large population. Prior to the building of the railway the Murman district was populous enoughi in the summer fishing season. when thousands of fishermen made their temporary homes there; but the permanent residents numbered only a few hundreds. A complete change has been wrought in a few years j n this little known outpost of civilisation, once the haunt of silence and now a great stake in the greatest war of history. Incidentally—and apart from war most importantly—Ekaterina is the only European port by which Russia, can have direct access to the open ocean without passing the Dardanelles. The onlv other ocean ports possessed by the nation are those on the east coast' of Siberia.) 1 and these are so far away as to be most uneconomical for Russia proper. ' ,