ITALY: Clipperton Island | TIME

TIME

February 16, 1931 12:00 AM GMT-5

So obscure, so ignominiously in the shadow of Dictator Benito Mussolini, is bantamweight King Vittorio Emanuele III that news last week that he had actually done something important came to most Italians as a pleasant shock.

His Majesty, after deliberating off & on for 22 years, finally handed down his decision as arbiter between France and Mexico in the forgotten matter of minute Clipperton Island, 700 miles off the Mexican shore, annexed by France in 1857, seized by Mexican Dictator Porfirio Diaz in 1897. Last week the bantam King gave Clipperton Island finally to France.

During the 22 years in which His Majesty has been making up his mind, tragedy has stalked Clipperton Island. So bleak and blasted is the little isle that it will not support life. The Mexican garrison has had to be supplied with food from the mainland. In 1920 Mexico was so busy with revolution that she sent no food. The helpless garrison began to starve. When a boat from Mexico finally put in at Clipperton Island only one man was found alive.

France will (possibly) use her rock as a seaplane base.

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