OWNERSHIP OF BOUVET ISLAND

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 123, 22 February 1928, Page 11

OWNERSHIP OF BOUVET ISLAND

QUESTION IN HOUSE OF ’ COMMONS DOES THOMPSON ISLAND EXIST? Rugby, February 20. Viscount Sandon asked the Foreign Secretary in the House of Commons what information he had had regarding the existence—denied by Norwegian whalers—or the whereabouts of Thompson Island, claimed by this country, and what was the position as to the rival claims of the British Government and the Norwegian Government to Bouvet Island. The Foreign Secretary replied that Thompson Island was first discovered by Captain Norris in December, 1825, and had only once been sighted since—namely, by Captain Fuller, an American seaman, in 1893. The island - was unsuccessfully searched for in IS9S, and in 1926, but in view of Captain Norris’s definite statement and the confirmation afforded by Captain Fuller there ..appeared to be no ground for questioning its existence, although there was some degree of uncertainty regarding its position. The British Government had informed the Norwegian Government that they considered the title acquired by virtue of occupation of Bouvet Island by Captain Norris in 1825 to be valid, and that in the circumstances they must formally reserve all their rights in connection with that island.—British Official Wireless.