NEW PREMIER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 86, 22 January 1942, Page 7

NEW PREMIER.

THE APPOINTMENT IN BURMA. (United Press Association—Copyright.) LONDON, Jan. 20. The appointment of Sir Paw Tun as Prime Minister of Burma is officially regarded in London as highly satisfactory. Sir Paw Tun, who is known as a man of strength and determination, was acting Deputy-Prime Minister during the absence of IT Saw, the former Prime Minister. It is understood that he proposes to •retain all the present Ministers in an enlarged Government, and that he .will himself probably continue as Minister without portfolio, so as to be able to devote all his time to the war and the defence of his country. “IT S'aw intentionally hampered -transportation on the Burma Road, stated Mr Harold Davis, an American transport expert who recently inspected the Burma Road as a United States Government expert, according to a Washington message. He added that U Saw was the ringleader of a group of so-called Buddhist priests who secretly co-operated with Japan with a view to blocking the Burma Road. Their activities resulted in the complete lay-ing-off of a vast number of trucks, which Mr Davis found in a. state of disrepair, rusting at the roadside, with grass growing over the 1 wheels* U Saw’s government seriously hampered traffic, levying a 10 per cent, value tax for material passing over the road, including lend-lease goods, said Mr Davis, and the Chinese Government was often unable to> pay the enormous taxes, so that for months it received no goods.