BOWDEN SENT TO SALISBURY

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31226, 25 November 1966, Page 13

BOWDEN SENT TO SALISBURY

t.V.Z. Press Association —Copyright/ LONDON, November 24. The Prime Minister (Mr Wilson) yesterday ordered the Commonwealth Secretary (Mr Herbert Bowden) to Salisbury for last-ditch talks with Mr lan Smith’s Rhodesian regime.

Mr Wilson said in the House of Commons that a “very wide gap of principle” still had to be bridged before any honourable settlement could be achieved between London and Salisbury.

He said Mr Bowden would fly to the Rhodesian capital tomorrow for a brief visit related to Britain’s final attempt to agree on a constitution with the breakaway Rhodesian colonv.

Mr Wilson said’that Mr Bowden’s visit was because of an appeal by the Governor of Rhodesia (Sir Humphrey Gibbs), who urged the Minister to make the trip for a discussion of the critical situation.

The statement brought cheers from the Opposition and groans from the Government benches.

Sir Humphrey Gibbs has remained at his post in Salisbury since the Smith regime illegally seized independence a year ago. He is the last symbol of British Crown authority in the country where 225,000 whites hold power over 4,000,000 Africans. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr Heath) welcomed the move, saying that all people hoped Mr Bowden’s talks with Sir Humphrey Gibbs and Mr Smith would mark an advance toward a settlement. One major barrier is the insistence of the Smith regime that the ruling whites must

retain, in any new constitution, the right to determine the rate of African political advance.

The British have insisted there must be guarantees of “unimpeded progress” toward African rule.

Britain will have to go to the United Nations within about a fortnight if it is to carry out its pledge of tougher sanctions against Rhodesia before the end of the year.

Mr Smith has about 10 days to show he is moving to end the year-long break with Britain.