The Americans

Leave

Christmas Is.

Ever since the end of the Pacific war a United States garrison has been, maintained on Christmas Island Christmas Island is one of the Line Islands (Washington, Christmas, Fanning.

Palmyra, etc.) which lie close to the Equator eastward of the Gilbert and Ellice group. The Americans on different occasions have laid formal claim to prac tically all the Line Islands; but up to the present the British have maintained their hold over them. They now are valuable for two reasons—they provide landing places for planes in that rather empty region between Hawaii and French Oceania, and they maintain considerable plantations of coconuts.

Communications between Honolulu and the American party on Christmas Island has been maintained for the last two or three years by a weekly plane service.

However, the American garrison is now moving out, and evacuation is expected to be complete by October 15.

The Gilbert & Ellice Islands Colony, which is responsible for the administra tion of Washington, Fanning and Christ mas Islands, will then take care of the communication with Christmas Island by means of an occasional vessel from Tarawa. The British Administration officer on Christmas Island is Mr. H. A.

Markham, who until the Japanese in vasion was the owner of one of the best known plantations in the Solomons.

The Burns Philp motor vessel “Muliama,” from Sydney, is scheduled to visit the Gilbert and Line Islands in October. (To avoid confusion, it should be noted there are two Christmas Islands in the news at the moment —the one referred to above, and the phosphate island in the Ocean, south of Java. Now that the latter is entering the Australian-NZ economy, the name of one or the other should be changed.