PLANE ORDER LOST

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28473, 31 December 1957, Page 9

PLANE ORDER LOST

Press Criticism In Britain ■N.Z Press Association—Co oynq nt i (I ?S C ;. 10 ? m ) LONDON. Dec. 30. national newspapers call for speaking” with the United States Government and urge the Prime Minister, Mr Macmillan, to protest personally to President Eisenhower about alleged diplomatic pressure which compelled the West German Government to reject an order for a British rocket-jet fighter. The Saunders Roe Company hoped to obtain an order worth more than £lOO million for its 1500-mile-an-hour S.R. 177. But the West German Government has decided not to order the fighter and Saunders Roe have scrapped the project. Between 1000 and 2000 workers at the company’s factories on the Isle of Wight are to be dismissed as a result. The ‘‘News Chronicle” defence correspondent, in a story splashed across seven columns on the front page, says that Government action is to be called for in the bitter controversy. ‘‘American high-pressure salesmanship offering completely unrealistic payment terms and interest rates forced the rejection of the British plane,” says the correspondent.

‘‘Backed by M.P.’s of all parties, the aircraft industry will urge the Prime Minister, the Minister of Supply and the Chancellor of the Exchequer to grant British manufacturers active assistance in financing long-term payment agreements and low interest rates for overseas buyers to match those of the Americans.

In addition, Mr Macmillan is likely to be asked to remonstrate with President Eisenhower at the growing American practice of preaching mutual assistance in defence and at the same time deliberately undercutting trade in defence equipment between Britain and the rest of Europe.” The ‘‘Daily Herald” declares in a front page leading article that it is being said that heavy and prolonged diplomatic pressure from the United States compelled West Germany to turn down the S.R. 177. “If this is true, and so far there has been no denial from Washington, then it is a pitiful commentary on the way the British Government defends the British workers. ‘‘For a government of big businessmen, we seem to be showing peculiarly little business acumen If Mr Macmillan is prepared to stand around watching thousands pf jobs disappear overnight, then 'he and his government should get [put before worse befalls us.” ( The ‘‘Daily Sketch” claims that German experts agree that the British fighter is potentially the world’s finest of its type and that by 1961 it could have given them a fighter force “superior in quality even to the Americans.” According to the newspaper’s political correspondent British diplomats are investigating the question and if American pressure is proved, a protest is certain to go from Downing Street to the White House.