811.0141 Phoenix Group/119

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of European Affairs (Moffat)

In the course of a call this morning on other matters, the British Ambassador raised the question of the Pacific Islands.

He said that the British parties had landed on Hull, Gardner, and one other island of the Phoenix Group several weeks ago and were now engaged in digging wells, et cetera. We had entered our caveat and the matter rested there for the moment. At the same time we had renewed our suggestion of a discussion as to the ultimate title of the Pacific Islands claimed by both countries.

The Ambassador had gained the impression from Judge Moore23 that the American Government might shortly hand him a list of the islands to which the United States laid claim.

Meanwhile, Sir Ronald Lindsay had received a long instruction from the Foreign Office, making a suggestion for the solution of the Pacific Island situation on a broad scale. He felt that while this instruction marked considerable progress, it was nonetheless so conceived as to raise difficulties for us. He had therefore requested the Foreign Office to change its instructions in line with certain recommendations that he had made. Even so he was not certain that we could get around the vexed question of Hawaii, but in any event he hoped very much we could delay making a move, such as presenting a list of our claims, until he had presented the British proposal.

I replied, subject to the concurrence of Judge Moore, that I saw no reason not to await the British proposal.

Meanwhile I pointed out that two specific problems remained for settlement, both connected with the specific problem of Canton and Enderbury Islands.

One was the question of the two bills which had been introduced in Congress extending the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court of Hawaii [Page 310] to Canton and Enderbury Islands.25 We had agreed with Mallet that we would talk this over with the British first, but as time was passing we hoped that such conversations be not too long delayed.

The second was our desire to finish up the exchange of notes on Canton and Enderbury and issue the new license to Pan American. We felt that we had met the British wishes pretty much on all points and thought there would be a definite gain in moving forward. Sir Ronald agreed that he could see no particular outstanding difficulty, and in his telegram to the Foreign Office, wherein he was suggesting changes in their major instruction, he would include a recommendation that he be authorized to close on the Canton and Enderbury matter without delay.

I thanked the Ambassador and told him that I would at once report this conversation to Judge Moore.

Pierrepont Moffat
  1. R. Walton Moore, Counselor of the Department of State.
  2. House Resolution No. 2982 and Senate Document No. 1114, Congressional Record, vol. 84, pt. 1, pp. 595 and 998.