STRICT SECURITY

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24760, 7 December 1943, Page 3

STRICT SECURITY

GUARDING CONFERENCE STALIN'S DOMINANCE WIDE RANGE OF MOODS (Reed. 10.45 p.m.) LONDON, Dee. ."> Elaborate security measures were taken in Persia during the conference of the three Allied leaders. The Government of Persia closed all frontiers, shut the radio station, held up telegrams for abroad, stopped all road transport except for foodstuffs, grounded all aircraft and made railway travel impossible. Arrangements at Teheran were on a grand scale. Armoured cars floodlit the walls of the British Legation wibh portable searchlights, tommygunners were posted behind trees in the grounds of the Russian Embassy, and no one was allowed inside the British, American and Russian Legations without a special pass. Ambassador Held Up The United States Ambassador to Britain, Mr. J. G. Winant, once was held up at the gate of the American Legation while his identity was checked. Delegates were strictly instructed not to talk to the press, and no delegate was allowed on the streets unescorted. According to observers Marshal Stalin seemed to dominate the conference, says Renter's correspondent in Teheran. Hi's moods varied from vivacious merriment at the nightly banquets to moments of impenetrable impassivity. When Marshal Stalin called to see President Roosevelt observers noted that his hair and moustache were now steel grey and that the strain of war had left lines on his thick-set features. He was closeted with Mr. Roosevelt for an hour and a-half before Mr. Churchill arrived for the first meeting of the "Bin Three." Life and Soul o! Party Informality was the keynote of the three leaders' intercourse. Apart from the actual conferences they dropped in on each other for consultations whenever they pleased. Marshal Stalin was the life and soul of Mr. Churchill's 69th birthday party on November 30, says the correspondent. He rose to every toast and clinked glasses with the person toasted. In six different speeches he emphasised his friendship for Mr. Churchill and Mr. Roosevelt. * Mr. Churchill proposed "Roosevelt the Man." Mr. Roosevelt proposed and Marshal Stalin seconded tne health of Mr. Churchill, to whom the Russian leader persistently referred as "My fighting friend." Mr. Churchill then proposed "Stalin the Great." The principal delegates of the three Powers attended the party.