PACIFIC ISLANDS

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 70, 24 March 1938, Page 22

PACIFIC ISLANDS

UNITED STATES CLAIM

INTEREST IN AUSTRALIA

(From "Tha Post's" Representative.)

SYDNEY, March 12.

Claims by the United States to Canton and Enderbury Island, in the Phoenix Group, and the steps contemplated by the United States Government to support them are being watched with close attention by the Federal Government. The British Government and the Commonwealth are in consultation on the course of policy the Empire should follow. New Zealand and Canada, it is believed, are also involved in the consultations, which have an important bearing on the future development of air services across the Pacific. No hint has been given of the nature of proposals now being discussed. In official circles JK Canberra the belief is increasing that-a satisfactory adjustment of the position will be found ultimately in an between the, nations interested : in the transPacific air route. Condominium control is suggested as one. means of settling amicably the ownership of the islands. The matter will probably be among those listed for review in the approaching talks between Britain, Australia, and the United States. The Sydney "Sun," in editorial comment, says: "It is not likely that there will be "any bitter controversy over the' Claim. Having in view the circumstances, it is more thari possible that the. British Government will not contest it, except in a formal manner. American . interests in the northern Pacific are paramount, and in the south the United States has trade routes and interests to consider. Besides their -value in commercial enterprises connected with the airways, these airports will be, in the event of war, a threat to enemy naval units, and will be, no doubt, guarded against attack. Britain, with her vast expenditure on defence of vulnerable'points and routes, may not find it inexpedient to allow the United States claim, or, if that be formally contested, cede these islands to a country with which, in spite of trade rivalries, British interests march closely, and with which any question of war on any- possible issue is, to use the phrase of a former President, "unthinkable." "It may be suggested, also, that the negotiations for trade agreements are likely, at least, to develop a favourable atmosphere . for concessions. That a friendly settlement will be effected is beyond doubt. If that settlement includes the admission of the claim to these two islands—and possibly others which are now subject of research by the United States experts—there is one point upon which, no doubt, insistence will be made—that of an unrestricted right to the commercial use of the airports of both parties.' No. question of trade rivalries should affect this fundamental condition. Upon the subject of the claim itself, argument may be left to the jurists of the two Governments. There is one point, however, that may cause a little surprise. The United States Government, in its claim to Howland and Baker Islands, insisted on the rights of effective occupation. In this case, apparently, the rights of discovery are to be relied on."