811.0141 Phoenix Group/95¼
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Adviser on Political Relations (Dunn)
Mr. Broadmead, of the British Embassy, by appointment brought in Mr. Fitzmaurice, a member of the Legal Division of the British Foreign Office, who was here in connection with the drafting of the Anglo-American Trade Agreement.93 Mr. Fitzmaurice said he wished to speak about the subject of the islands in the Pacific. He said there were two points he wished to discuss, as he had something to do with the subject in the Foreign Office.
In the first place, the British were interested in discussing the general question of aviation in the Pacific and its relation to the use of all the islands of both countries for this purpose. He said that their mention of the subject in one of their notes had not been answered.
I told Mr. Fitzmaurice that we had made it entirely clear to the British Embassy here that we had no intention of bringing into the present discussion of the control of the Islands of Canton and Enderbury the general subject of aviation in the Pacific, that if the British wished to discuss that subject, they would have to bring it up as a question for discussion specifically, but that it was to be understood that it had no relation to the matters now before us with regard to the use of Canton and Enderbury Islands.
Mr. Fitzmaurice also said that another matter which interested them was the colonization of Canton Island from the Gilbert or Ellice Islands. He said the increase in population in the Gilbert Island group was proceeding at an increasing rate and that the British Government were obligated to find some outlet for this population. I said this was a matter which could no doubt be discussed, and, while this Government was not particularly keen about having Canton colonized from other islands, and while the physical difficulties seemed to be enormous in view of the lack of water and other facilities, this was a matter which could be discussed later on.
Mr. Fitzmaurice was obviously disappointed at learning that we had no intention of permitting the discussion of the use of “all” the islands of the Pacific for aviation purposes in connection with the present discussion regarding Canton and Enderbury Islands.