THE FALKLAND ISLANDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 83, 9 April 1929, Page 6

THE FALKLAND ISLANDS.

The news that the United States Government has made a claim to Grahamland and other dependencies of the Falkland Islands (presumablv the adjacent groups of South Shetland and South Orkney) has drawn attention to this outlviix; British colony, the only one in South Anieri> a which can be described as a white man's country. It is not stated that the American Government makes any claim to the Falkland Islands (although the Monroe Doctrine has a very elastic interpretation), but only to its dependencies, which are remote and uninhabited. It should be noted that the Argentine Government lias also always claimed the Falklands (known in Spanish as 111 <■ Islas Malvinns) as their own. In maps printed in Buenos Ayres they are shown as Argentine territory. The group has a. bleak and desolate climate, which has been compared to the Shetlands. but is perhaps more gloomy. A day of full sunshine is such a rare event that it is said that the school children are given a holiday 011 such an occasion as a special treat. The islands are well adapted, however, for sheep fanning, which forms the principal industry; there are (or were not long ago) some New Zealand settlers in the Falklands the total area of which is little 111010 than 6000 square miles (abont the size of Yorkshire), while the population, which fluctuates considerablv, is given as about 2500. * ' Grahamland (which the United States is now said to claim) and the adjacent islands possess climate which is by no means so Arctic as that of the Ross Sea; in fact, they lie outside the Antarctic Circle. It is possible that the recent remarkable success of the Norwegian whalers in the Ross Sea has awakened the ambition of their American confreres, who have suddenly realised the great value of Grahamland and its satellite islands as bases for whaling operations. The Norwegians, who have long had a whaling and sealing base in Montevideo, also recognise this fact, as is evident from their recent claim to Bouvet Island (a claim recognised by the British Government), which lies near the same area. Tll fact, we may soon see a great revival of th? whaling industry in the south, in which, it is to be hoped, British ships will play their part. —J.*D. LECKIE.