TBE CAROLINE ISLANDS.

North Otago Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4082, 12 October 1885, Page 4

TBE CAROLINE ISLANDS.

Of the Grst sta&ea of the dispute between Germany and Spain relative to the Caroline Islands, the Argus London correspondent writes as. follows in his letter of August 21st : Tho high-handed action of Germany on the east coast of Africa lias been promptly followed by the announce, ment that the Imperial authorities, in iurtherance of the policy of colonising expansion, have occupied the Caroline Archipelago, in disregard of the shadowy iuzerainty which Spain has claimed over these islands ever since the promulgation of the famous bull of Pope Alexander VI. In Madrid the prevailing feeliDg is one of irritation and disguat at thia fresh encroachment on the part of Germany. Indignation is expressed at the unfriendly conduct of Germany in disregarding the communication that was made to Prince Bismarck, that the Governor ofthePhilli pines had been preparing since March last to take actual possession of the group, which, it is claimed, has belonged to Spain ever since 1543. The Co) respondenna dc Espami, in refutation of the contention that the Spanish claims to the Carolines had lapsed, publishes a decree, issued five months ago by the governor of the Philipines, establishing a military government in the islands. It is also stated that the Governor- General of Manilla, having some suspicion of German dt signs, had sent a steamer wiih twenty-five marines, a naval commandant and some missionaries, to take possession of the principal island in the group, but only to find that this tardy display of official activity had been too late. It was first stated in Berlin t'.mt Germany would only occupy one or two of the islands, with the object of obtaining laborers for the German colony in New Guinea, but this view has been abandoned, and a claim is now preferred to the whole group. The English Press have accepted this fresh proof ol colonial activity on the part of Germany very calmly, it beiog evidently regarded as unwise to imperil the prospect of a good understanding with the Imperial Chancellor by supporting a merely sentimental grievance on the part of ar. nhnost effete colonial power. The Daily Tdajraph, however, sounds a note , of warning, by pointing out that if the game of ' island hunting' is to go on, it is monstrously foolish (for Great Britain, iv view of the early completion of the Panama Canal, to let the Germans pick up all the stray jewnla of Polynesia, Melauesia, and Micronesia." The Caroline Islands, pays the titJamcd'x (tr.c/f*-, aC a remarkable group of coral formations in the northern Pacific They are perhups of no great strategic importince, since they lie on the road to nowhere iv particular: but from the point of view ol nrcluologist, they are interesting iv the the extreme. Certain Dutch navigators, who visited them nearly a generation ago, returned to Europe with wonderful stories concerning the gigantic ruins that had been discovered on some of the snr.aller islets at the eastern end of the archipelago ; but it was not uutil 1883 that anything upproaching to a systematic survey of the group was undertaken. In that year Her Majesty's aMp E*pic<jlc touched at many of the iMnnds ; and those officers who went ashore found that the imßgui(icencc of the remains hnd not been exug. crated. The most imposing ruins are at Metalanim Harbor, in Pouape, and at Chabrol Harbor, iv Kusaie ; and an idea of their grandeur may be formed from the fact that some of the stones of the buildings measure as much as 35 feet long by 20 feet broad and 15 feet thick. They are ornamented with rude sculptures, which bear a family resemblance to the well known sculptures of Easter Island, in the Southern Pacific; yet Easter Island and the Carolines are fully 0,000 miles npn.it; and so far as is discoverable, there has never been any communication between them. '1 he object and origin ol the monuments are alike unknown. It may be added that the Oiroline croup, which was discovered by Spain in 1520, has hitherto, even by Ger mm geographers, been regarded as a Span ish possession ; although for yeirs tiiere have bei-n no Spanish residents on any of the islands. The extent of the land sur face of the group i? rather more than 300 Bjuare miles; and theestimatcd population is about 22,000 souls, ail of whom are of the Malay race.