GREEK TROUBLES

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25293, 29 August 1945, Page 8

GREEK TROUBLES

INVALID ELECTION HEATED ATMOSPHERE ANTI-ALLIED LEAFLETS By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright ATHENS. Aug, 27 The Minister of Labour, M, Zakkas, ruled invalid yesterday's election to the committee of the Workers' Centre in Athens. The election, in which the Communist workers' organisation, "Ergas," won a majority, was held in a heated atmosphere, in spite of the efforts of the police and the presence of Colonel A. G. Ralph, of the British Mission, who is reorganising the Greek police, Two policemen and two workers were injured in clashes. M, Zakkas stated that the election Was irregular because no legal representative was present to confirm the results. "Britain must clear out of Greece and give the Greek people a chance to settle their domestic affairs." said General Zachariades at a press conference. Asked what would happen after the departure of the British, he said: "Civil war will follow. The situation in this way will be settled in less than two months. Everything will be 0.K." The Associated Press says that meanwhile, thousands of leaflets are being circulated in Athens violently attacking President Truman, Mr Attlee and the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Ernest Be via. AUSTRALIA'S STATUS VOICE IN WORLD AFFAIRS CANBERRA, Aug. 28 Following discussions on Australia's international status by the full Cabinet, political observers think it likely that the Minister of External Affairs, Dr H. V. Evatt, will soon leave Australia for London. Negotiations for a voice for Australia in the Council of Foreign Ministers in London were, it is understood, reaching the stage where it might be necessary for Australia to have a Minister on the spot."Negotiations on the matter are in progress between the Governments ot the Commonwealth and the United Kingdom. SUIT WITHDRAWN AUSTRALIAN LIBEL ACTION (Kecd. 8.20 p.m.) CANBERRA, Aug. 28 The Minister of Information, Mr A. Calwell, announced that he had a withdrawn his suit against Brian Penton, editor of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, claiming £25,000 as damages for alleged libel in an editorial article published in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Calwell said he had taken this course because Penton had taken shelter behind privilege to escape from the consequences of the challenge which the Daily Telegraph had thrown out but was afraid to stand by. Mr Justice Dixon at the preliminary hearing ruled that defendant could not set up privilege, hut the majority of the Judges of the High Court overruled Mr Justice Dixon and held that defendant was entitled to plead privilege. In his statement Mr Calwell said; "I have not got hehind me the wealth of a large corporation such as Consolidated' Press, Limited (proprietors of the Daily Telegraph). Already the costs are heavy and 1 have not the means to appeal to the Privy Council against a decision, which,; my lawyers advise me, is wrong." '~ \ - / . M I sought to have determined in a Court of law only the simple question of the truth or falsity of what the Daily Telegraph challenged me to do, Defendant's action In relying on privilege has defeated trial on that simple issue. "Because defendant has taken shelter from the consequences of the challenge which the Daily Telegraph threw out, hut is afraid to stand by, the only course open to me is to discontinue the case." STAY-IN STRIKE AUSTRALIAN MINERS MEN SLEEP UNDERGR&JND NEWCASTLE, Aust. 13 Thirty underground workers, who are taking part in a stay-in strike at Rhondda Colliery, have announced to the management from their camp in the mine that they intended to stay there until their demands were met. The last report was that the men, who are about half a mile from the tunnel mouth, had retired for the night in beds made of brattice, a fabric used for screening. Food and tobacco supplies, cards, dominoes and ludo boards were passed into the mine today by wives of the strikers, and the men have spent the day discussing their grievance, or eating and playing cards. "I have no objection to food going into the mine," said the manager of the colliery, Mr It. Miller. "If they enjoy eating in the pit, let them." The strike was undertaken as a protest against delay in providing the jnen with a new bath-house. Rhondda is a non-gaseous mine find the man may smoko or use carbide lamps, but a deputy has been stationed in the mine to ensure that other safety regulations are observed. The mine fan is Toeing operated to ensure an adequate supply of fresh air to the workings.

PRESSURE GROUPS FIVE IN SOVIET RUSSIA There are five pressure groups inside Russia, writes Joseph Barnes in the New York Herald Tribune. One is the Bed Army, which prefers security in frontiers and guns to security on paper. Another is Russia's border republics, like the . Ukraine and White Russia, "which are now resuming a massive experiment in political arid economic federalism after having suffered fantastic losses in men and resources. A third is those historical-minded Russians who contend that the Poles have always been "Russia's Irishmen," a kindri'd but separate nation with an acute sense both ot past injustice and what can be called nuisance-value politics. A fourth is the Soviet police svstein, perhaps an inevitable product "of nn entire generation of revolution ami counter revolution taking place within a State which has never vet felt it could afford civil liberties. Finally, most experienced observers suspect the probable existence within the Soviet Communist Party a group of leaders who, either from conviction or despair, are so convinced of the hostility of the outside •world tnat they are prepared to <'o pn alone, leaving the west to its own devices and its own destiny.