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Colonist, Volume LXI, Issue 15046, 14 April 1919, Page 3

■ktASS um Sydney writer depicts Mr vv. M. Hughes as defending his claim that Australia should have the mandate rp T r fche Island of Nauru by asserting "We saw it first." The story of the Australian occupation of the island1 Has yet.to be written in .full'•but some accounts suggest that the Melbourne whaleboat which effected its bloodless capture just got there in time, beating the Japanese, cruiser by a 3ay so that when the latter reached the island the Japanese found the British flag floating over it, an incident which recalls the much-disputed legend of the race tor Akaroa." The Phosphate CompanVs British staff had been expelled from' Nauru by the Germans a month alter the outbreak of war, and took re-! fuge on Ocean Island. A little later the I Japanese vessels which had already < seized the Marshalls turned towards iNauru, but Li the meantime the Melbourne's landing party had >done what was necessary, though it was not until the beginning of November .'that, the island was effectively occupied by Australian troops brought from German New-' Guinea. v.v I

There are 1,000,000 square miles of unexplored polar region. ,^