HELP FOR FINLAND

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21039, 15 February 1940, Page 8

HELP FOR FINLAND

ENLISTMENTS IN BRITAIN Not against the lawleague OF NATIONS’ LEAD (Official Wireless) (Received Feb. 15, 1 p.m.) RUGBY, Feb. 14 Sir John Anderson was asked in the House of Commons whether he was aware that an organisation was at work in London for the purpose of enabling volunteers to proceed to Finland, and whether the Foreign Enlistment Act of 1870 made it illegal for any British subject to take service in the forces of a foreign State engaged in warlike operafions with a friendly State.

The Under-Secretary to the Home Office replied: “Britain has carefully considered this matter in the light of the resolution passed by the League of Nations on December 14 on the subject of the provision of assistance to Finland. It would, in Britain’s view, be inconsistent with the spirit and terms of that resolution that British subjects who wish to volunteer for service in Finland should be hindered by the provisions of the Foregin Enlistment Act, seeing that the Act contains power to grant dispensations. Accordingly a general license has been granted to British subjects to enlist in the Finnish Forces and a license has been granted to the recruiting organisation which has been established in London.”