FANNING ISLAND.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 285, 3 December 1907, Page 5

FANNING ISLAND.

AN EXPLANATION

ONLY THE COPRA ESTATE

SOLD

[press association.] ' (Received Dec. 3, 9.25 a.m.) SYDNEY, Dec. 3. Mr Milward, the representative of the Pacific Cable Board, states that the sale of Fanning Island has no Imperial significance whatever. It simply relates to the sale of the Fanning Island copra estate, which does not moan the whole island. The fact that the estate absorbs 'all but about 40 acres of the island does not affect the question. British control remains the same, and the Pacific Cable Board's possession is untouched. The purchase of the estate by a French Catholic missionary, who ranks second to Bishop Vidal of Fiji, lias no religious significance either, as it is known that the missionary was only the nominal purchaser for someone ■else, ivb.o already possesses large trading interests in the island.