hristmas Island?

[?]Mb Tests

S, E or West of hristmas Island?

air of mystery surrounds the :act point of the intended ritish atom bomb tests next is, of course, well known he base of operations and the from which the bomb-dropping ft will take off is Christmas in the Northern Line Islands. some time ago a senior i” associated with the tests op, while visiting New Zea m high-level talks, that the explosion would take place mother atoll. This being the ;he only possible other atolls rvis, Malden, or Starbuck, as Df sufficient distance from in i islands. >eptember-October, a section ic opinion in the Cook Islands :ampaigning against the e dangers to the inhabitants Northern Cooks. Late October, the Cook Islands Legislative 1 opened its annual session, bject of the intended bomb as raised by Mr. G. A. Walsh, ho attended the session as ntative of the New Zealand ment.

Walsh then stated that “the ea would be situated many lorth of Christmas Island.” id-November an Auckland per again carried a small d the effect that the tests 0 take place over another The question arises: Where s atoll be, north of Christmas? ;st atoll to Christmas is in- Fanning, important trans telegraph cable station, 153 iistant. Continuing north -3 miles, there is inhabited gton, operated as a planta a subsidiary of Burns, Philp is the extent of British lorth of Christmas. Some is north-west of Washington erican Palmyra, and 33 miles on in the same direction in Kingman Reef. Johnson ar to the north-west is also in. r “north” we should read then Jarvis, 200 miles est of Christmas is Ameri rough normally uninhabited again puts Malden or Star the hot favourite, n is 365 miles south-south d Starbuck 450 miles almost Christmas. The latter atoll fiiles from Penrhyn, in the 1 Cooks. Malden is 100 miles from Penrhyn.

Palsh also announced that I meteorological station will up in the Northern Cooks ext year “to ensure that mb-test headquarters at

Christmas Island are fully acouainpri with the weather conmtS prl lnJhis area a ‘ the fS 6 , “‘Sht see in this statement that the test will in fact take Diace over Malden or Starbuck. P 6 A little later in November it was announced in Wellington that two vessels of the Royal New Zealand Navy will also be sent to the area as mobile meteorological stations for the tests.

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Dunedfn 6 Nz° m Otago diversity.