Japan To Buy More Wool

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28159, 24 December 1956, Page 11

Japan To Buy More Wool

(Rec. 11 p.m.) TOKYO. December 22. The Japanese Ministry of Trade announced today that it would allocate 87500.000 dollars for an additional import of 350,000 bales of raw wool, mostly from Australia, under its import budget for the October-March period to meet the growing domestic demand for woollen goods. Trade sources said that allocations for raw wool imports during the financial year ending March next would reach a record of 1.170.000 bales, compared with 730.000 last year.

♦u ßri i ga ? ler Gril pshaw went aboard tn® last evacuation ship waving his Irish shillelagh. We didn’t expect trouble but we were ready for it,” he told correspondents.

As the final phase of the evacuation began, rocket-firing planes from the two British carriers, the Eagle and the Albion, and one French carrier “buzzed” Port Said’s Arab town in sweeping dives as the troops marched to their embarkation points at the dockside.

A squadron of tanks rumbled through the street covering the marching area, with the tanks’ guns trained on all likely danger points. Outside the barbed wire, a company of fighting infantry formed the rearguard. They were the last soldiers to board the departing ships. The Allied Commander in Port Said, Lieutenant-General Sir Hugh Stockwell, stood at the salute on the quay as the last troops marched down the sandy road to the ships. As the men. laden with battle kit. swung their eyes right, the General, called out to each company, “Well done, boys.”

There were a few scattered shots from the direction of the Arab town as the troops embarked but it was thought to be just an Egyptian firing into the air.

The first phase of the Allied withdrawal began on December 3 when the British and French Governments announced that the United Nations forces were built up in Egypt. Since then there has been a steady, gradual thinning of the British and French ranks as troopships and transports left Port Said harbour, laden with men and equipment. Outside the bridgehead perimeter, about 2000 U.N.E.F. men formed a cordon between the departing allies and the Arab town which has been a base for recent guerrilla attacks. Last night,. Egyptians fired on a British position fronting the docks. The United Nations troops quickly returned the fire.