“No Fortifications”
p. 57 · Read in the full issue
American’s Investigations In Japanese Islands
■** 4 FTER four months’ investigation I left the Japanese mandated islands with the clear conclusion that there is no ground for suspicion regarding fortifica tions, but every reason for grave concern regarding the significance of the islands in the future of Asia,” writes an American journalist, Mr. Willard Price, in an article in the London Spectator, which was re published on February 1 in the Sydney Sun.
The islands, he says, are an amazing labyrinth, comprising the Marianne, Caroline,- and Marshall groups, numbering 1400, irrespective of the smaller islets and reefs. The entire system is 2700 miles wide and 1300 deep, and so situated that Japanese aeroplanes could reach Australia in six hours, Hongkong and Singapore in 10 hours, the Dutch East Indies in three hours, and the Philippines in two hours.
Some islands, he says, are useless, but others would be perfect hiding places for warships, submarines, and aircraft. Mr.
Price describes Palau Harbour as valu able as a potential naval base, with a deep basin which could accommodate at least 50 large warships. Occasional Japanese warships anchor there, but merchantmen are not allowed in.
“Its existence is not generally known,” he writes, “but I presume it is not secret, as officials took me there through the five-mile channel connecting the harbour with the sea.
“I saw no refuelling bases or fortifica tions, though, if necessary, these would probably come into existence with sur prising alacrity.”
Palau is the westernmost and southern most of the important islands, but lesser islands continue almost to New Guinea, while at the equator the Australian and Japanese mandates meet, Australia itself is only a few days’ sail.
This key position makes the islands an invaluable protection to Japan as she works out her destiny upon the Asiatic mainland.
Mr. Price refers to the fears of the League Mandates Commission that a naval base is being constructed in Saipan Harbour, and says that Saipan is so ex posed that it is important only as a harbour and completely useless as a naval base.