Notes on the News Japan in the Pacific

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 7 December 1938, Page 8

Notes on the News Japan in the Pacific

The Japanese mandated territories of the Pacific consist of some 1400 islands and reefs scattered over a vast expanse of sea, between the equator and Japan. The most northerly of these islands lies 1200 miles due south of Yokohama, the most westerly is 590 miles from Duvao in the Philippines and 660 miles from Menado in the Celebes, while well away to the east at a distance of 2000 miles lies Hawaii. To the south there is nothing of real importance until Australia is reached at a distance of 1800 miles. The total area of those mandated islands is about 1500 square miles, the population nearly 80.0(H), of whom about 30,000 are Japanese. The Japanese Government lias been charged by the League of Nations representatives with fortifying some of the islands. While repudiating the charge, the Japanese authorities have refused to allow any examination to be made. Though the islands are still regard od by the League of Nations as under mandate to Japan, the Japanese Government has made plain that It re gards them as possessions which n an oulv bv taken by force.