Canton Island To Be Abandoned
(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, Dec. 21. A Pacific island which only 30 years ago was the centre of a dispute between Britain and the United States is to be abandoned and left to the thousands of sea birds which nest there. | The department of civil aviation announced today that Canton Island, between Fiji and Hawaii, is no longer needed as an aircraft communications centre. In 1937 the United States annexed the island but Britain disputed this and the two countries finally agreed to ad minister it jointly. With the increasing relia bility of navigation and com munications equipment, and ■the increasing range of air craft, the island is no longei of importance and the airport is to be closed. “Shortly all that will remain on its 11 square miles of land will be an abandoned airstrip, some crumbling
buildings and the myriads of seabirds for which Canton has always been home,” said a spokesman for the department.
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Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31560, 23 December 1967, Page 19
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162Canton Island To Be Abandoned Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31560, 23 December 1967, Page 19
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