TO END TROUBLE

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 138, 8 December 1945, Page 7

TO END TROUBLE

EFFORTS AT BANDOENG

INDONESIAN MINISTER (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) Rec. 10 a.m. BATAVIA, Dec. 7. The Minister of Information, Sjarifuddin, and two members of the working committee flew to Bandoeng in a British plane this morning to ti*y to end the trouble there, reports the correspondent of the Associated Press. One thing he has been charged to investigate" is the reason for the Indonesians' failure to obey the ultimatum ordering the cessation of attacks against" the British and internees. Sjarifuddin himself made a broadcast calling on tiie people to observe the ultimatum.

j The republican leader. Dr. Soekarno, | said today that if the fighting at Bandoeng could be stopped the situation throughout Java would finally quieten. The Indonesians at Bandoeng have failed to comply with the order that certain areas must be evacuated, says the correspondent. Their answer is that it takes time to obtain alternative accommodation, but it is known that local pirate radio stations have been exhorting those who were ordered to leave to burn their houses down before they go. The radio says that the British are ordering their removal because they want good houses for themselves. SAMARANG AIRFIELD CLOSED. The Indonesians are .believed to be trying to close in on the airfield at Samarang. Pilots of the R.A.F. Transport Command landed there amid firing, having failed to pick up a signal warning them away. Dakotas returning to Batavia with evacuees were the last aircraft to leave Samarang today. The airfield is now closed. Pilots said that they saw two cruisers standing off Samarang, one of which presumably was the Sussex. An Allied headquarters communique reported that Samarang airfield was under mortar fire last night. Indonesian guns hidden in the jungle on the shores of a lake two miles from Ambarawa bombarded Ambarawa gaol, causing unknown casualties. Six Thunderbolts bombed and strafed the suspected positions, and guns also blasted the Indonesian positions near the lake.. The Indonesians are reported to be concentrating north-west of Ambarawa. A British officer and six men are missing from a patrol nlong the railway line south of Surabaya. Three members of the patrol returned and re- ! ported that they met with constant machine-gun fire. Gurkhas clearing Indonesian positions which were obI slructing the evacuation of prisoners |of war and internees from Bandoeng suffered three killed and nine wounded. Sniping continued in Batavia during the night. BLOCKADE AGAINST EUROPEANS. Indonesians throughout Java, but particularly in the area of Bandoeng, are tightening the food and service blockade against Europeans, says Renter's correspondent. No vegetables, egg's, or milk have been available for sale anywhere for the last fortnight. Allied troops raided the Kramat district in Batavia and recovered British arms and uniforms, and held 53 young Indonesians i'or interrogation, v Another British artillery regiment has disembarked at Surabaya. The British aircraft-carrier Venerable has arrived at Batavia and is embarking a number of refugees, mostly stretcher cases. , The Indonesian news service has announced the inauguration of an Indonesian "military school" somewhere in west Java. A British brigade major and a woman member of the Red Cross are missing, believed kidnapped, at Padang. A British statement said that the-strongest representations have been made to^lhc* Indonesian authorities.

The Massey-Harris Company' of Canada is taking over a large Government factory at Trafford Park, Man-chester.-'and'will make agricultural machinery for the British market ar.d for export.