THE CAROLINES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 21 October 1942, Page 2

THE CAROLINES

A SUBMERGED CONTINENT FROM LEGEND TO REALITY The Carolines, seat of Japan’s major naval and seaplane base at Truk, have literally leapt into history since that and other bases for Japan’s southward drive have been developed. Spain, Germany and Japan have in turn helped to bring the story of these islands from the realm of legend into the wide open pages of recent history. Japan’s task in administering the islands of Micronesia has been in most respects a simple one. The land area is small and the native population docile and almost stationary. Resources are so limited that industrial exploitation is almost negligible. Whereas neither the Spaniards nor the Germans migrated to the islands, the Japanese have for several years outnumbered the natives. To the Spaniards the Mariannes and the Carolines were merely a frontier for Catholic missions; to the Germans they were a minor outpost for trade and for cable communications in the building of a colonial empire; to the Japanese they are much more. In the popular, as well as the official, mind they are one of the numerous “life lines” with which Japan seeks to surround herself. Legend has p[ayed the chief part indeed in the story of the Carolines, yet behind the hidden secrets of its long-forgotten past lie evidences of earlier empires and waves of conquest and decline. In certain parts of the Pacific there are indications of an ancient civilisation—of the existence of a people who possessed architectural and mechanical knowledge similar to that which produced the pyramids of Egypt and other marvellous constructions of the preChristian era- These relics are found at widely scattered points—notably the mammoth statues of Easter Island, somewhat similar rock carvings in Pitcairn Island, the famous pillars in Tonga, the remains of huge, ancient temples on Maiden Island, and the extraordinary objects which abound in the Caroline Islands. AN ANCIENT VENICE Throughout the group are massive , runis, one of the strange water town, an ancient island Venice, whose origin is as mysterious as that of the stone figures on Easter Island. Tourists seldom penetrated into the jun-gle-covered fastnesses of the Carolines, and steamers gave them a wide berth, usually as a result of the dan- ! gerous reefs surrounding them. Both Truk and Ponape are surrounded with great encircling reefs; in the case of Truk the enclosed lagoon having a radius of 30 miles, and the whole group consisting of about 70 islands. At Ponape there are over 30 tiny islets, many covered by the remains of walls, canals, and earth- j works of the most stupendous character, built upon a general plan such as could have been conceived only by men of power and intelligence acquainted with mechanical appliances for raising enormous weights and transporting huge blocks of stone vast distances by both land and water. Undoubtedly their builders must have had at the time of erection both a settled government and a system of religion, as the works could have been carried out only by the labour of many thousands working under direction and in concert. The existence of these ruins has given colour to the belief held by scientists that many Pacific Island groups are the remains of a great continent which at one time sank below the surface, and after lengthy submergence showed again in parts

as island groups In Ponape superimposed monoliths resemble those found at Stonehenge and Avebury, i in England, at Carnac, in Brittany, j and also at intervals on two routes — | right through Asia and across the Sea of Japan to the Japanese Archipelago. Then the route of the megalithic (Big Stone) people, who possessed the art of working huge blocks of stone like those of which the pyramids in Egypt were built, stretched in a general south-east direction across the Pacific to Chile and Peru, touching at the Carolines, Samoa, Pitcairn and Easter Island, among other islands, on the long track. The great ruins on the reefs of Ponape can only be explained by assuming a submerged empire, with many thousands of inhabitants. MALTA OF THE PACIFIC Though Japan’s mandate in the Pacific is generally referred to as covering three groups—the Carolines, Marshalls and Mariannes—for administrative purposes the Pelew or Palau group has always been and still is included with the Carolines. The whole of this group was placed under the mandate, with the exception of the one lonely stronghold in United States possession, the island of Guam. This is the largest of the Marianne islands, and was ceded by Spain to the United States in 1898. Surrounded first by the German mandate, and since 1914 by the Japanese, this solitary outpost was the last station in the U.S. chain from Hawaii to the Philippines, and has been aptly called “the Malta of the Pacific.” The Mariannes were discovered by the Spaniards in 1521, the Carolines by the Portuguese in 1527, and the Marshalls by the navigator Saavedra in 1529. Before and after 1800 these groups, thickly populated and enormously rich in natural resources, became a hunting ground for innumerable adventurers, wandering navigators and enterprising traders- In the latter half of last century the new German Empire was pushing into the South Seas, and the Germans were much interested in the actual and potential value of both the Carolines and Marshalls. In August, 1885, the Germans hoisted their flag at Yap, in the western Carolines, and claimed much of the adjacent territory. Spain protested violently, and the dispute was referred to the Pope, as arbitrator. His decision was in favour of Spain, but Germany was given certain definite trade rights. The German influence in the groups grew considerably and rapidly till, finally, by treaty of 12th February, 1899, the three groups (Carolines, Marshalls and Mariannes) ; were ceded by Spain to Germany for a payment of £840,000. Germany on Ist October, 1899, formally took possession of all territory therein, with the single exception of - Guam. The Japanese expeditionary , force which took possession of the groups on the outbreak of the last war was the prelude to an immediate consolidation and a vigorous colonisation and economic policy, under a special body known as the South Seas Defence Corps. The regulations for this corps were revised in 1918, the corps being , charged with local defence only, and ’ the Civil Administrative department , established. UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT On the adoption by the Council of 1 the League of Nations in December, - 1920, of the terms of the mandate ; for the German possessions in the i Pacific lying north of the equator, the Government of Japan steadily

pushed on preparations for changes and after 1921 gradually withdrew the garrisons stationed in the islands, this operation being completed in April, 1922. At the same time the South Seas Bureau was created to carry on the administration of the territory in place of the Defence Corps- The bureau has its office in Korror, one of the Pelew islands, West Caroline group, now under the spotlight as the northern end of their aerial commercial administration southward to Timor. Before the war there was much trade between Australia and these various groups, maintained by regular lines of British and German steamers; but now Japan controls them wholly, both economically and strategically The town of Korror is situated on the southern end of Pelew, and was until the outbreak of war the administrative centre of all the islands under the mandate. It includes about 200 islands of which Pelew Island is the principal. This island is about 20 miles long by five across. It is very fertile and well wooded, and produces every kind of tropical fruit and vegetable. There are in places interesting ruins of ancient fortifications. Both Pelew and its opposite number Guam are almost on the Alfred Russell Wallace line laid down by the great naturalist from Asia to Australia, with marsupials and curly-haired Papuans on one side, and Bengal tigers and straighthaired Asiatics on the other.