THE TOBI ISLANDERS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 525, 4 June 1909, Page 5

THE TOBI ISLANDERS.

GERMANY'S DEMAND. • CAPTAIN SAYS. HE WILL NOT OBEY. (Ax mEaium-msa issocu'iitio-tol'tnittat.) (Rcc. Juno 4, 0.35 a.m.) . 1 Brisbane, Juris 3. Captain . Straohan, of; tho ketch Envoy, which haß oil board: somo Tobi Islandors, whoso, return is domanded by the German authorities,..in tho course of a lOcturo, ; an-. nounced that ho told: the Tobi. boys abowd tho Envoy that the? would have to bo handed over to the Germans, but the boys refused. • Ho did hot recognise the Federal Government in this matter. • It. was an Imperial affair, ; and h6 only recognised the Admiral Commanding the Australian: station.;-\, Captain St'ra'chan ; added that'so long as he lived he would not hand the boys over to the Gorman Government. , A Brisbane cablegram of June ,1> Btatedi "The ketch Envoy /recently brought here among her crew five. Tobi Islanders, whose return is demanded by the German New Guinea authorities. So far Captain, Strachan, of the ketoh, has refused to give them Up. Tho (Sermon Government yacht .Seestern is' now Waiting'here, for tho. natives. ' , "The captain of" the. Envov telegraphed to the Federal Government: 'will the Government permit tho'Germans to prevent me'from taking tho men to Britain to plead their ease before the Imperial Government P' The: Federal Minister replied! I'he Government sees no'other Course but for the,men to return' to Tobi. No assistance will be given to delay the return of the men to their homes.'" Tobi lies some distance south of tho Peloiv Islands, which are a dependency of . the Caro* line group. Germany purchased the Carolines from .Spain in 1&99 for 1 about £837,500, It,- is hot clear whether the ownership of Tobi is in dispute. It is nearer to Dutch than to German New Guinea