A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 191, 11 May 1938, Page 9

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

American Outposts America’s Western defences arc i>< ing developed along a 5000-mile froii from north to. south across the mid Pacific. Places mentioned are Harbour, Kodiak, Midway Island. Wai:.Island, Canton and Pago Pago. One hundred and seventy-live miie> south-west of Seward, the most wester:.' open-the-year-round port ou the main land of Alaska, is the great island ot Kodiak. It was on.that island that, in 1783,. the first pernitrnent Russian settlement was made in. Alaska. The climate of Kodiak is tempered the warm Japan Current. The island, the largest island belonging to Alaska, is about 100 miles long by 50 miles broad.' The Karluk River abounds in salmon, find their canning is a valuable industry. There is an extensive trade m fur and cattle rearing. The world’s largest species of bear, the great brown bear, is found there. Karluk, the largest town, has a population of about 550. Dutch Harbour

Dutch Harbour is on Unalaska Island, at the passage between the Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. It is «r wellprotected harbour, where the weather is never cold, and it is nearer to Japan than to the United States. It was an important base of supplies when Russia owned Alaska, amd is now used by the United States Government in connection with the revenue cutter service. Unalaska is the second in size and the principal of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. A mountainous and barren island, it measures about 76 miles in length amd varies in breadth from 10 miles to 24 miles. It has deeply-indent-ed coasts and contains the volcano of Makusbin, 5635 feet high. Iliuliuk, or Unalaska, a port of entry on the north coast, is the chief settlement, and has a population of about 400. The Aleutian Islands are a chain of about 150 islands extending in curved formation west from the peninsula ol Alaska for a distance of about 125<> Alaska for a distance of about 1250 miles. The islands, mw-i of which belong to the Unilid States territory of Alaska, are bare and rocky, and contain numerous volcanic peaks, active and dormant. Tile inhabitants are principally Aleuts, a branch of the Eskimo race, and belong to the Greek Church. The climate L moist and- the temperature moderate. Midway Islands

Midway Islands (there are two little islands) are about 1300 miles northwest of the Hawaiian Islands. They are two little isles, mere freckles on the face of the ocean, but important to America. Their name was derived from their location about midway between the United States and Japan, and on the larger of these islands is the most isolated cable station in the world. This is a sand island, about a mile and a half long, three-quarters of a mile wide, and only 43ft. above sea-level at the highest point. A coral reef, 25 miles in circumference, protects the islands from the sea, and a rift in the reef admits vessels of light draught into a deep and safe harbour. Away back in 1887 The Wandering Minstrel was wrecked on the reef, and the captain, with his wife and crew, lived on fish and seagulls’ eggs for 14 months until they were rescued. , In 1903 the Commercial Pacific Cable Company established a station on the island, and to-day 20'of its employees call tills little sand heap “home.” Every three months a supply ship arrives. In 1906 there was great excitement in the colony, for a big Pacific steamer grounded on the reef while landing the manager of the cable company. It was six days before the ship was floated. Five hundred visitors all at once were a delight to the Midwayites, who were so hospitable that the passengers late r .sent them a loving cup in remembrance of the sojourn. The employees at the cable station live in comfortable, well-equipped buildings, and indulge iu tennis, golf, billiards, fishing, and sea-bathing during leisure hours. They have cows, sheep, and fowls, and grow vegetables on soil brought over from Hawaii. The island is a stopping-place of the clipper flights across the Pacific from the United States to China. Wake Island

I Wake Island, situated between Midway and Guam Islands ou the PanAmerican trans-Pacific airway to HongKong, is said to have been discovered by an English naval officer, Lieutenant William Wake, of the schooner Prince William Henry, in about 1795. The island in 5000 miles distant from the United States, and is merely a pinprick in the Pacific Ocean. It is an essential port on the airway that links the United States and the Far East. Vessels have been wrecked on its reefs, but there is safe harbour in the lagoon. An up-to-date hotel has been built on the island, and big-game fishing is to be had in the waters round about. Although Lieutenant Wake discovered the island, it was left to an American. Captain Charles Wilkes, of New York, to chart it. Pago Pago

The harbour of Pago Pago, iu Turuila, Eastern Sampa, was ceded to the United States as a naval and coaling station iu 1872, and in 187 S America was granted freedom of trade ami extra-territorial jurisdiction in Samoa. Tutuila is about 25 miles long, and ranges from about two to six miles wide. A broken mountain range runs almost the whole length of the island, with numerous deep valleys running down to the coast, in which there is much fertile land. The whole island, even to the tops of the peaks, is densely wooded and very beautiful. Pago Pago is one of the best harbours in the Pacific Ocean, and is the crater of an extinct volcano. South Tyrol Unrest exists among 200.000 former Austrians in the South Tyrol, who, like the Sudeten Germans, are impelled toward Greater Germany, says the Rome correspondent of t,he "Daily Telegraph.” The case of the Austrians of South Tyrol is particularly noteworthy. Their territory was given to Italy after the Great War, and even the name “South Tyrol” is forbidden by the Mussolini Government, and any newspaper using it is confiscated. Instruction in the German language has been forcibly diminished; private schools taught in German are forbidden; all place names have been changed from German to Italian by royal decree; German family names of Italian origin have had to be restored to their original forms. The effect of all this has been to intensify local bitterness, and over a period of years has brought about sharp exchanges between Germany and Italy.