811.0141 Phoenix Group/105½
The British Embassy to the Department of State
Memorandum
It will be observed that the draft exchange of notes concerning Canton and Enderbury Islands, which forms the enclosure to Sir Ronald Lindsay’s note No. 448 of the 26th November, contains no reference to the colonisation of Canton Island. The reason is that in the interests of simplifying the administrative problems on Canton Island and after fully reviewing these circumstances, His Majesty’s Government have decided to suspend their claim for its colonisation. This decision of course in no way implies that His Majesty’s Government have revised their views as to the merits of the recommendations on the subject made by the authorities of Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony as the result of their investigations on the spot last year, and it is only with the utmost reluctance that the British authorities have consented to sacrifice an integral part of the highly practical scheme for the settlement of the Phoenix Group which was elaborated prior to the arrival of the United States party on Canton and Enderbury Islands in March, 1938. It is hoped that the suspension of this well-founded claim will be conducive to the rapid adjustment of all future questions to which the use of Canton Island may give rise, but, if the conditions under which the air base on this island is operated should make colonisation possible at any later date His Majesty’s Government would then expect it to be made available for the settlement of natives from the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony.
His Majesty’s Government are proceeding with their proposals for the settlement of Gardner, Hull and Sydney Islands in accordance with the scheme described in the reports from the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, copies of which His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs placed at the disposal of the United States Ambassador in London under cover of his personal letter of the 23rd May last.95
- Not printed.↩