811.0141 Phoenix Group/96½
The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador ( Lindsay )
The Secretary of State presents his compliments to His Excellency the British Ambassador and has the honor to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of the latter’s aide-mémoire of August 4, 1938. Noting that the British Government seems anxious that an agreed announcement be issued at an early date concerning the establishment of a régime for the use in common of the Islands of Canton and Enderbury in the Phoenix Group, the Government of the United States desires to assure the British Government that the joint communiqué agreed upon is not to be interpreted as affecting in any way the opinion of either Government or as prejudicing any eventual decision regarding the settlement of colonists on Canton Island.
It is suggested that if agreeable to the British Government the text of the joint communiqué as further amended by the aide-mémoire under reference be given to the press on Wednesday, August 10, 1938, for publication in the morning newspapers of August 11, which do not appear on the streets before midnight Greenwich time or 7 p.m. August 10, Eastern Standard Time.94
- See Department of State, Press Releases, August 13, 1938, p. 114.↩