YAP CABLE SYSTEM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17651, 11 December 1920, Page 9

YAP CABLE SYSTEM.

QUESTION OF CONTROL. AMERICA OPPOSES JAPAN. A DELICATE SITUATION. By Telegraph—Press Association-Copyright (Received 11.30 p.m.) A. and N.Z. NEW YORK, Dec. 9. The Washington correspondent of the New York Times states that the impasse between Japan and the United States regarding control of the cable stations at "i ap has developed such serious proportions that the State Department has laid the situation officially before the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate.' Officials characterise the situation as most delicate. Mr. Davis will explain the controversy before the executive session of the committee. Three cables radiate from the former German island of Yap, in the Caroline Croup, one to Shanghai, one to the American island of Oram, and the third to Merado, in the Celebes. These cables were under German control 'before the war, and Japan claims that their control should pass to her as mandatory for the former German possessions north of the equator. The United States is strongly opposed to the retention of Japanese control, as in the event of an interruption of the privately-owned American fine, between Guam and Manila, her cable communications with the Orient would be dependent upon the Yap system.