Britons Await Govt Move On The Rock

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32010, 10 June 1969, Page 17

Britons Await Govt Move On The Rock

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) MADRID, June 9. General Franco’s Government severed Spain’s last land link with Gibraltar at midnight, sealing off the frontier at the coastal town of La Linea, the crossing-point for the 4800 Spanish workers who up to now have gone to the Rock every morning and returned at night.

The British Government is reported ready to meet the contingency with special plans, but so far officials have not said what they are.

According to press reports, the plans may include making greater use of workers from Morocco'and Malta to fill the gap left by absent Spanish workers in Gibraltar’s docks, and cutting down the number of naval ships using The Rock’s facilities.

Officials say the Government will make a statement in the House of Commons this week on this latest Spanish move to force Britain to give back to Spain the colony it has ruled since the eighteenth century. The frontier was closed to all traffic but the workers in May of last year. In a radio interview yesterday, Sir Joshua Hassan, Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, said: “We are not prepared to be bullied into being Spanish.” Speaking from Gibraltar in the British Broadcasting Corporation’s “World At One” programme. Sir Joshua Hassan said that the Spanish moves entailed nothing Gibraltar fluid not overcome “We are going to go about our business in the same

way,” he said. “It is sad to do without the Spanish workers, but this wjl! not interfere with our essential services.” He added that the 25,000 inhabitants of Gibraltar were disgusted with Spain and would never agree to join thal country. On the same programme, a Right-wing Conservative M.P.. Mr Duncan Sandys, suggested that Britain should take re taliatory action against Spain He said the courses to be considered included withholding permits to Spanish citizens wanting work in Britain and official measures to discourage the flow of Bri tish tourists to Spain.

British officials see the latest Spanish move as a reprisal for the new Constitution for Gibraltar announced on May 30. It entails no change in the international status of the colony, which remains a non-self-governing territory within the terms of the United Nations Charter.

Announcing the Constitution, Britain repeated that she would never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another State against their freely and democratically expressed wishes. The new Constitution provides for the devolution of responsibility in respect of domestic matters to Gibraltar ministers.

But the Governor of Gibraltar (Admiral of the Fleet, Sir Varyl Begg) will, among other things, retain direct responsibility for matters relating to defence, external affairs and internal security. A British fortress for the last 250 years, The Rock has a population of 25,000. It was ceded to Britain by Spain under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, nine years after its capture. Gibraltarians voted almost unanimously in 1967 to keep their links with Britain.