FALKLAND ISLANDS

Waikato Independent, Volume XLIV, Issue 6173, 15 March 1948, Page 7

FALKLAND ISLANDS

ARGENTINE’S CLAIMS VIEWED LIGHTLY BY SEAMEN VISITORS Unmoved by the international dispute over their homeland are two Falkland Islanders in the crew of the overseas ship Highland Prince, at present in Wellington. They are Messrs J. Finlayson and E. Biggs, both of whom, tracing back to several generations of settlers on the islands, left over a year ago, and have since been travelling the world as seamen on the Highland Prince. Referring to Argentina’s claims to some of the territory in the Falklands and their dependencies, rhe seamen said Argentina had reiterated such claims once or twice a year as far back as they could remember. “Though they have never gone to the length of landing on any of the islands, the present flare-up will blowover just the same as all the rest,” they said. • “Argentina has had designs on our territory for many years, and considers the islands part of South America, but we have been a British colony since February, 1833, and we should still be one in February, 2033,” one of the seamen said. “The South Americans have no navy worthy of the name, and now that Britain has apparently taken a strong stand in the matter, they have nothing to back up their claims. “They have a big and fairly modern army, however, trained after the German fashion and dressed in Nazi uniforms,” he continued. “When vve were in Buenos Aires a year ago, there were soldiers goose-stepping all over the city. Buenos Aires is a fine city, but the population is very Nazified. The whole country is run by the Army under the dictator, Peron. But without a navy they can do little about taking our home, save talk.” “The Dependency Islands, which are the present bone of contention, are supposed to be very rich ; in mineral wealth, but are useless''for anything else,” said Mr Finlayson. “The last time I -sighted them, they were so many rocks covered with ice and snow.

“The Dependency Islands have always been considex-ed part of the Falklands colony, and though the Dependencies have no inhabitants, there are about 2000 people of mixed Scottish and English descent in the East and West Falkland Islands. There are no South Americans living in the islands and President Peron, who is extremely pro-German in many ways, cannot claim that he should take over the island ‘to protect’ an Argentine minority. “The main value of the Dependency Islands would be of a strategic nature to Argentina. Both there and around the main Falklands Islands are many fine harbours. Port Stanley, the main town in the Falklands, with about 300 houses, was used by the Royal Navy for a fuelling depot in the recent war, and is really the only British possession betw-een Capetown and New Zealand. “With a sheep population of about a million head, the East and West Falklands Islands are made up of hilly, fairly poor land, and have a very unsettled climate. During the winter the land is snow-bound, the roads are poor, and the weather is very- cold. In the summer it rains about every second day, and it is still cold. But on the intervening fine days it is possible to get a sun-tan. “There is a monthly ship from Port Arthur to Venezuela. This ship, together with half the land, much of which is hilly—though not so hilly as New Zealand—is owned by the Falklands Islands Company. “Life is fairly easy on the islands, everyone has enough to eat, and there is no unemployment,” said Mr Finlayson. Mr Biggs, who said that there was one cinema and one dance hall in the Falklands, was uncertain about his