Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1938, The British Commonwealth, Europe, Near East, and Africa, Volume II

811.0141 Phoenix Group/60: Telegram

The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Kennedy) to the Secretary of State

London, March 30, 1938—6 p.m.
[Received 6:30 p.m.]

265. My 203, March 11, 6 p.m. The following memorandum was handed to me by Lord Halifax today.

“On the 10th March the United States conveyed to His Majesty’s principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs a personal message from President Roosevelt to the Prime Minister proposing that the United States of America and the United Kingdom should occupy and hold Canton and Enderbury Islands in the Western Pacific as a joint trust for a period of 25 to 50 years, during which time the two Islands will be administered under joint control with equal facilities for each party.

2. After consultation with His Majesty’s Governments in the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand, His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom gladly accede in principle to this proposal and would welcome an early discussion with the United States Government for the purpose of drawing up a detailed scheme.

3. Whilst thus most ready to reciprocate the President’s gesture of good will, His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom wish to go further and to suggest that the time has come to find a solution to the whole problem of air communications in the Western Pacific, which is a common interest of all the Governments concerned. Indeed, at the very moment of the recent action with regard to Canton and Enderbury Islands, His Majesty’s Government were on the point of submitting an offer, formulated with the concurrence of His Majesty’s Governments in the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand, to grant, on the basis of complete reciprocity, full air facilities to United States nationals at any islands under their jurisdiction situated in the area likely to be served by a trans-Pacific air route. It is still desired to maintain this offer which the Governments concerned trust will commend itself to the United States Government, providing as it does for a concerted scheme for establishing equal air facilities on a route where conditions must indefinitely preclude the existence of competition between two services using different intermediate stopping places especially as they must in any case possess joint terminal facilities.

4. In the circumstances His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand would suggest that, concurrently with the proposed discussion about the future status of Canton and Enderbury Islands, they should confer with the United States Government regarding the political and technical aspects of cooperative and reciprocal services by a British Commonwealth and a United States company across the Pacific for the purpose of defining the best possible route and agreeing upon a method of cooperation for this purpose.

5. There is one further aspect of the matter to which His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom wish to draw attention. Interest has been taken in these uninhabited islands because of their importance as potential air bases. But they are also not without value for colonization purposes for the natives of the Western Pacific. There is serious overpopulation in the Gilbert and Ellice group, and last autumn natives from those Islands visited the Phoenix Islands, including Canton and Enderbury, with a view to investigating their suitability for colonization. The results of the investigation have been most promising, and definite plans for the colonization of the group, starting at an early date, had been submitted to the competent department of His Majesty’s Government when the President’s message was received. The proposals provide inter alia for the early despatch of an expedition to Canton for the purpose of planting the Island with a view to its permanent settlement by Gilbertese in a few years when a food supply is assured. There seems no reason why these proposals should in any way interfere either with the proposed future status for Canton or Enderbury or with any eventual general agreement on the lines suggested above. Indeed, the existence of some population on those islands might be of value if an air base were to be established. It is therefore hoped the United States Government will be able to agree that any arrangement designed to regulate the future status of the two Islands on the basis proposed by the President should provide for their eventual colonization from the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, and that they will also agree that there is no objection, pending discussion between the two Governments, to the despatch of a preliminary expedition to Canton Island for the purpose indicated above.

6. Finally, as the Republic of the United States are no doubt aware, the Pan-American Airways have recently asked His Majesty’s Government in New Zealand to grant them permission to make a survey of islands administered by the New Zealand Government in the general vicinity of American Samoa, and have requested that, if any of these islands are found suitable for aviation purposes, they may be granted landing facilities thereon. It will be appreciated that any such arrangement would naturally fall within the scope of the proposals outlined above, and His Majesty’s Government in New Zealand therefore propose to await the views of the United States Government before considering this request further.

7. His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom desire to explain that the delay in putting forward these proposals at an earlier date has been solely due to the necessity not only of careful consultation between the competent authorities in the United Kingdom, but also with the Dominion Governments concerned. They feel, however, that it is important that little time should be lost in making an appropriate announcement to the public.”

Kennedy