Chinese Release British Ship

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31378, 25 May 1967, Page 8

Chinese Release British Ship

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

PEKING, May 24.

China has released a British merchant ship held for a week after members of its crew were accused of insulting portraits of Mao Tse-tung, British sources said yesterday.

The ship, the 1299-ton Lord Gladstone, was detained in Darten port. North-east China, on May 15 after an incident on board in which, according to the Chinese Government, a British seaman threw a booklet of Chairman Mao’s quotations at Chinese port officials. The ship’s master was confined on board and the seaman was arrested, the sources said. A message received by the British Charge d’Affaires in Peking from the master of the Lord Gladstone said the ship was allowed to sail on Monday after the seaman was released.

The master apologised to the local authorities for incidents involving seamen on his ship, the sources said. According to a Chinese Government protest- delivered to British officials in Peking on May 19, another incident occurred on May 7 when a member of the crew "mutilated” a portrait of Mao. He was not arrested. The Chinese protests, handed to a British consular officer in Peking, described the incidents as “grave political provocation” and demanded a guarantee that such incidents would not occur again.