AUSTRALIA'S FEAR.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXVI, Issue 17478, 24 January 1919, Page 5

AUSTRALIA'S FEAR.

(AuStralianr-N.Z. Cable Association.) Received January 23, 11.10 p.m.

PARIS, January 21

Mr. Murdoch states: In interviews given by Mr. Hughes to American journalists, he indicated his intention strenuously to oppose Japanese annexation of the Marshall and Caroline Islands.

President Wilson desires that the Pacfiic Islands should be internationalised under a League of Nations, with Britain as mandatory power, charged by the League with administration and control.

Britain and Japan wish the line of the Equator to divide the sphere of influence, Australia and New Zealand annexing the islands southward, and Japan those northward of the Equator. Britain claims that Mr. Fisher's Government in 1915 accepted this solution. It appears that Mr. Hughes does not agree with this plan. An urgent question is whether Australasia would prefer America as the mandatory power for all German possessions in the Pacific or Britain, or provide the solution by accepting the Equator as marking the terminus of the southward descent of the Japanese. Perhaps it is still possible to Secure mandatory control over the Marshalls and .Carolines for Britain, provided Japan receives "" territorial comnensation elsewhere.

(Reuter.) Received 1.45 a.m. Jan. 24

LONDON, Jan. 22

The "Daily News' " Paris correspondent lsarns that British circles are of opinion that secret treaties made during the war should be regarded as profoundly modified by later events, such as America's entry into the war. America is taking a strong line upon the question.

It is understood there is an agreement between the A]lies and Japan giving Japan possession of the Caroline and Marshall Islands. Australia strongly opposes this.