FISHING OFF ICELAND

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28671, 22 August 1958, Page 11

FISHING OFF ICELAND

Possibility Of Compromise BONN, August 20 A majority-of the Icelandic Government has agreed to a proposed compromise on the Icelandic waters fishing dispute, informed sources said today. The sources said, however, that Iceland’s Communist Minister of Fisheries (Mr Ludwig Josefsson) was still holding out against the compromise, which was put forward by the N.A.T.O. SecretaryGeneral (Mr Paul-Henri Spaak). They said Mr Spaak proposed that instead of Iceland extending her territorial waters from four to 12 miles on September 1, as planned, fishing within a 12-mile limit should be restricted. A British Foreign Office spokesman said in London tonight that Britain had been in diplomatic contact with her N.A.T.O. allies for several months about Iceland’s decision. The British United Press reported tonight that Norway was ordering her trawler skippers to keep out of the area, and Swedish naval authorities and the Foreign Office were working out instructions to the Swedish minesweeper Hanoe, escorting Swedish fishing vessels on their way to waters off Iceland. Norway has not officially recognised the new limits, and feels that the dispute should be handled by an international conference. The agency said it was feared that trawlers which made big catches off Iceland would be tempted to invade Norwegian coastal waters.

NEW AERODROME AT DARWIN (Rec. 9 p.m.) DARWIN, August 21. The New Darwin aerodrome, the largest military and civil airstrip in the Southern Hemisphere, will ,be ready for use in December, Civil Aviation officials announced today. The new airstrip is two and a half miles long, and 200 feet wide. It took three years to build at a cost of about £5,500,000. The new strip will be able to take the heaviest bombers at present in production.