174 
THE AMERICAN-SCANDINAVIAN REVIEW 
Norway 
CJ The assembling of the new Storting on January 11 evoked more 
than ordinary interest on account of the tangled political situation, no 
party having a majority. Several of the old leaders have retned, 
among them the “Grand Old Man” of the Left party, Gunnar Knud- 
sen, and most of the groups had to elect new chairmen. G. Iveiten 
former president of the Storting, will temporarily act as chairman ot 
the Left. Johan Mellbye, former minister of agriculture, has been 
elected chairman of the new Agrarian party. Former Premier Otto B. 
Halvorsen has again become leader of the Right, while the Libera 
veteran W. Konow has accepted the leadership of the so-called Liberal 
Left, a party which is, in fact, more closely allied with the Right (the 
Conservative) party than with the Left (the Radical) party, ihe 
leader of the regular Socialists will be J. Gjostein, while the Commu¬ 
nists will be led by O. Scheflo. <1 The government proposes to intro¬ 
duce a bill in the Storting which will involve the waiving of Norway s 
claim of one and a half million kroner for fish sold to Austria, ihe 
Bank of Norway has decided not to participate in the proposed inter¬ 
national loan to Austria. Norway House, a centre of Norwegian 
life in London, was formally opened by King Haakon on December 29 
in the presence of a distinguished company, Mr. Stanley Baldwin, 
president of the Board of Trade, representing the British government. 
The building is situated in Cockspur Street near Trafalgar Square. 
On the ground floor the Norwegian State Railways have a handsome 
office. The second floor gives accommodation to the chancellery of the 
Norwegian Legation. The office of the Norwegian Chamber of Com¬ 
merce occupies the fourth floor. A permanent exhibition of A orwe- 
gian products will he arranged in the building. ^ The Norwegian 
minister in London, Mr. Benjamin Vogt, has been appointed as the 
Norwegian member of the Arbitration Court which is to consider the 
claims "of Christiania shipowners to compensation for the steamers 
requisitioned by the American Shipping Board during the Avar. Mr. 
Vogt is one of the oldest members of the Norwegian diplomatic service. 
He was Norway’s minister to Stockholm after the dissolution oi the 
union between Norway and Sweden. Since 1910 he has been ministei 
to Eno-land. CjJDr. Fridtjof Nansen has returned to Norway atta¬ 
ins investigation of the Russian famine, and two days after Christmas 
issued an urgent appeal for contributions. Although the collection tor 
Russian relief had been going on for a long time and was nearing con¬ 
clusion, Dr. Nansen’s appeal brought in 70,000 kroner in the course 
of a few days. Dr. Nansen has personally guaranteed that the money 
will be used for the purpose for which it is intended. <J Since the 
conclusion of the Norwegian-Russian Trade agreement Norway has 
exported to Russia fish to the value of four million kroner. 
