OILFIELDS RIOTS

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26397, 16 April 1951, Page 3

OILFIELDS RIOTS

Trouble Grows In Persia (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) TEHERAN. April’ 15. One policeman and one worker were killed and several persons injured today during a demonstration at Isfahan on the South Persian oilfields. The Minister of the Interior (General Fazlullah Zahedi) told the Majlis (Parliamentary Lower House) to-night that the deaths occurred when the police opened fire after oilfield demonstrators attacked security forces. The Persian Senate to-day approved the imposition of martial law at the seven points in the South Persian oilfields area—including Abadan. The Majlis this evening also approved the imposition of martial law in these places. . Pickets yesterday surrounded tne Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s refinery at Abadan, reducing the working staff from 12,000 to 3000.

Simultaneously more demonstrations were held at Abadan but Persian armoured cars were in town and no more violence was reported. The pickets cut production at the refinery to 10,000 gallons a day from a normal 18,000,000.

Outside Abadan, the company’s concession areas are reported quiet. It is now known that three AngloIranian British employees died in riots on Thursday. Previously only two had been known to be killed. A man earlier reported to be an Italian seaman has since been identified as a British employee. The British Ambassador (Sir Francis Shepherd) called on the Persian Prime Minister (Mr Hassein Ala) and drew his attention to the utmost seriousness of the situation in the South Persian oil area. He told the Prime Minister of the measures the British Government proposed to take to ensure its rights. Strikes on the Persian oilfields began last month when the AngloIranian Oil Company cut certain bonuses to workers. The Persian Government has blamed Communist agitation for spreading the strike and leading to the Abadan rioting.

Mention In Commons In the British House of Commons to-day, the Foreign Secretary (Mr Herbert Morrison) said that the Government was very concerned about the development. “We had hoped that the problem that had arisen about Persian oil could be discussed in a ouiet and friendly atmosphere,” he said. The Deputy Conservative Leader (Mr Anthony Eden) asked Mr Morrison for an assurance that if it was necessary to send warships to the oilfields area, there would be no hesitation in doing so. Mr Morrison: ’1 should not hesitate to take the appropriate action." Amid cheers, he added: “If British lives are imperilled we have got to do something about it” The Admiralty stated to-day that no British warships were now at Abadan. Two frigates, H.M.S. Flamingo and H.M.S. Wildgoose, were within 24 steaming hours of the port. The cruiser Gambia was also believed to be in the Persian Gulf area.

GREAT SMUGGLING COMBINE

Goods Sent To East Germany (Rec. 10 p.m.) BERLIN, April 14. British and American officials are ready to smash a £20,000,000 international smuggling ring, according to Allied officials. ' The ring has sent millions of pounds’ worth of strategic materials to East Germany from the west. .The combine has dominated illegal trade to Russia through East Germany for more than three years. It is reported to have ■ capital of £21,438.000. The Allied official said that more than 100 West German and West European firms were involved in the organisation. Several West German firms were suspected of having used Marshall aid funds to manufacture strategic goods for export to the east A Senate investigating committee n Washingtor. is awaiting a report from its men in Germany. • * Intelligence experts said that the head of'the rin<» was an Austrian who regularly travelled In East Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Allied officials said that big Ruhr steel firms had already sent men to West Berlin to try to hush up the impending scandal. The officials said that many West German firms supplied goods to the east on patriotic grounds, and some only now were beginning to realise that the exports did not remain in the Soviet zone.

NO PROGRESS AT PARIS

FOREIGN MINISTERS* DEPUTIES

(Rec. 8 p.m.) PARIS, April 13. The Foreign Ministers' Deputies again made no progress at the thirtieth meeting to settle the agenda for the full-scale Big Four conference. A Western spokesman said the discussion was more practical than recent sessions and in a better atmosphere with both East and West clarifying their views. The spokesman added, that one of the main obstacles to the agreed agenda was removed. Mr Andrei Gromyko (Russia) said e

the West made no step to facilitate agreement on the agenda. He added that he was accused of attaching great importance to the order of various questions, but the West was doing exactly the same thing. Mr Gromyko said in reality the Soviet delegation put forward the items in the order of their importance for the preservation of peace, while the Western deputies pushed this approach into the background. '

SUPPORT FOR U.N. ARMY

(Rec. 9 p.m.) OTTAWA, April 14. The Canadian External Affair* Department said to-day that Canada i* prepared to back to the hilt the creation of a United Nations anti-aggres-sion army. The department was commenting on a Lake Success dispatch which said that the United Nations had appealed to its members “as a matter of urgency” to notify headquarters what units of their armed forces would be earmarked for such a force.

The department said that all of Canada’s ground forces, either fighting or designated for action in Korea, could be made part of any overall United Nations anti-aggression force.