TITO’S VISIT TO BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 26986, 11 March 1953, Page 9

TITO’S VISIT TO BRITAIN

Mr Eden To Return From U.S.

(Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON, March 10. Marshal Tito will land at Westminster Pier in the shadow of Big Ben on March 16 to begin his visit to Britain. He will leave the Jugoslav warship, Galeb, in the Thames estuary and travel up the river in a Royal Navy motor torpedo boat, escorted by other similar craft. He will be received at Westminster Pier by British Government representatives. Then, heavily guarded by Scotland Yard special branch officers, he will go to the Jugoslav Embassy, in London.

The British Foreign Secretary (Mr R. A. Eden) will fly back from Washington in time to welcome Marshal Tito.

The British destroyers, Chieftain and Chevron, early today took over the escort of Marshal Tito as they sailed through the Sicillian Narrows. The flotilla is now on the way to Gibraltar. The Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Mr A. Nutting) told a questioner in the House of Commons today that Marshal Tito would address a meeting of the inter-Parliamentary Union in London on March 19.

Mr K. Younger (Labour) asked that Marshal Tito be welcomed “not only as one of our most gallant war allies, but as the head of the only Communist regime which shows an independent spirit, and his visit made a thorough success.” Mr Nutting replied: “I see no reason to challenge that. That was one of the' purposes we had in mind in issuing the invitation.” General Peko Dapcevic, Chief of the Jugoslav General Staff, left Belgrade by air today for the United States for an inspection tour of the American armed forces. He is accompanied by another general and two colonels. QUEEN MARY’S HEALTH . .. . . . LONDON, March 9. A slight improvement in the general condition of Queen Mary was officially reported last night. Queen Mary, who has been confined to bed for a fortnight with gastric trouble, had a better and restful day. FLYING SAUCER REPORTS OBJECTS SEEN IN ARIZONA (Rec. 12.10 a.m.) NEW YORK. Mar. 10. A United States Air Force nublic information officer said last night that several officers had seen “what looked like flying saucers” hovering over the Air Defence Command gunnery course at Yuma, Arizona. Captain Phillip Hiaring said the sightings were reported by more than 20 officers and civilians. “It looks like someone from another planet is spying on our gunnery,” Captain Hiaring said “We are trying to pin this down.” Captain Hiaring said a formation of a dozen or so disc-shaped objects were seen at frig* 1 altitude last Thursday. Mr G_. W. Simpkins, technical representative of the General Electric Corporation, said: “There must have been at least a dozen or so. I saw them very high to the north-east of Yuma airfield. They broke toward the base at terrific speed. Then they hovered over the field and disappeared. ’ HUGE FIRE IN U.S. PORT (Rec. 7 p.m.) NEW YORK, March 9. A fire that burned through the heart of the waterfront at Wilmington, in North Carolina, today, was estimated to have caused 5,000,000 dollars worth of damage. Thirteen firemen were injured, five seriously, as they beat back the flames from stores of explosive fertiliser that could have produced disastrous blasts. Raging out of control for four hours, the fire engulfed at learst six buildings handling most of the cargo moving through the port. One warehouse alone contained 1,000,000 dollars worth of sugar which was destroyed.