CANTON ISLAND.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 200, 24 July 1937, Page 8

CANTON ISLAND.

Canton 3 Island, from whence scientific expeditions recently observed the eclipse of the gun, is again in the news. Prior to calculations being made which placed this tiny speck in the path of totality, very few people had heard of it, or if so given it a moment’s consideration. But the preparations made to witness a rare phenomenon gave to the island a good deal of publicity, and now it is. receiving prominence from another angle. It is one of several islands which have become important by reason of the air services which will cross the Pacific Ocean, and when the New Zealand scientific expedition was there evidence was not lacking that the United States claimed possession. The officer commanding the American minesweeper Avocet, which had taken up the best anchorage at the island, is said to have refused recognition of any British rights. Whatever the formal . claims to possession made on these islands when first discovered, their existence was of little concern until deposits of guano or phosphate rock attracted notice. Now they are given another, and very considerable importance, as links in the Pacific air services. When the routes from San Francisco to China and southwards were being surveyed by Pan American Airways and the United States Bureau of Air Commerce, it was found that several islands of great value were in dispute as to ownership. The Americans planned to overcome British objections to their claim by sending parties to them and establishing living quarters as evidence of colonisation. Howland, Jarvis, and Baker Islands became prominent in this way and it is Canton Island’s turn now. The British Government, knowing the value it possesses'when air services will operate from Canada down the Pacific, lias promptly informed the authorities at Washington that Canton with other islands has been incorporated in the Gilbert and Ellice Island's Colony by Order-in-Council. To what extent this will influence the United States Government in accepting Britain’s claim for possession cannot at present be appreciated.