The Question of Saghalien.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8073, 25 August 1905, Page 5

The Question of Saghalien.

(Received Aug. 25, 8.25 a.m.) WASHINGTON, August 24, Beyond saying that the proposal to divide Saghalien came originally from the Russians, the Japanese envoys refuse to discuss the Russian statement.

[Saghalien Island—which is referred to in this cable message—belonged to Japan exclusively until 1857, when the Russians began to form' settlements, and in 1575 the}' virtually compelled the Japanese to cede the island in exchange for the useless Kurile Islands. The Russians made it a penal colony, and it boars a tragic resemblance to most cjlonios founded on the system of transportation to remote islands. After dumping ;50 per cent, of the criminal classes in Siberia, the Tsar's Government attempted to put their worst malefactors and desperadoes— and possibly not a few politicians and reformers—out of sight ou Saghalien. The island may be said to command the whole maritime province of Siberia, including the mouth of the Amur and the _ town of Nikolaieysk. With this addition, the first capture of Russian territory,] the Japanese archipelago forms an island, broken only by narrow straits, enclosing Eastern Asia from the Korea to the mouth of the Amur. The whole population did not exceed 30,000 at the last census, and of these only about SOOO were women.]