—Portrait of the Week— TUB CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER, Mr.
Selwyn
Lloyd, owned up in the House of Commons to having made a mistake in his estimates last July: government expenditure for 1962-63 was likely to be £110 million more than he'd budgeted for. It was reported that the Cabinet thought of cut- ting the social services, and decided it was too politically dangerous. A wage increase offered to London busmen looked like putting fares up; it was forecast that British Railways fares would go up, too. Nurses and midwives rejected a 2-1 per cent. wage increase, having asked for up to 40 per cent. The LCC finance committee pro- posed the highest rate ever—ls. 7d. up on last year. New rating arrangements for the country as a whole dismayed other ratepayers. Increases in iron and steel prices were expected to put 35s. on the price of an average family motor-car and £4,000 on that of a million-pound cargo ship. The Government called off a £15 million project to develop a vertical-take-off air liner. Mr. Len Williams is to succeed Mr. Morgan Phillips, whose deputy he was for years, as general secre- tary of the Labour Party.
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MR. MINTOIF AND HIS LABOUR PARTY conceded victory in the Malta elections to Dr. Borg Olivier and his Nationalists, and Te Deums were sung for a Catholic victory. Sir Roy Welensky flew to London, stayed away from the House of Com- mons when Mr. Maudling announced the Government's decision, and said he would use force in support of 'the policy I wish to carry out.' The South, Africa Bill, on its second read- ing, accorded that foreign country a number of Commonwealth benefits, and was described by Mr. Grimond as 'a victory for Dr. Verwoerd.' The Algerian Nationalist parliament gave its provisional government carte blanche to con- clude a cease-fire, the French Government was reported to be jubilant, and the OAS continued to mow down Moslems in the streets of Algiers. But 10,000 more French troops were being moved into the city to block the terrorists.
IN SEPARATE LETTERS, Mr. Macmillan and Mr. Kennedy again urged on Mr. Khrushchev their proposal that a -summit conference should take place only after a Foreign Ministers' meeting, and were attacked by lzvestia for their 'negative reser- vations and excuses.' A simultaneous television appearance in each other's country (and no doubt elsewhere) was arranged for Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Khrushchev, probably next month. The Soviet Government extended the death penalty to such crimes as rape, bribery and attacks on the police.
REBEL PLANES BOMBED the palace of the South Vietnamese president in Saigon, but if this was meant as the signal for a rising it fizzled out. Turkey's armed forces stood by the government, and thus averted a students' coup. The Governor- General of Ceylon resigned his office after it had been announced that he would be interrogated about the abortive coup of January 27. The Irish Republican Army called off its campaign of violence against Northern Ireland and partition.
* IT WAS REVEALED in the Registrar-General's Statistical Review of England and Wales that married people do in fact live longer than single people, and not merely feel as though they do. The number of vehicles on the roads of Britain went up to ten million—half a million more than a year ago. A Californian sealion from Chester Zoo was apprehended walking along the Chester- Birkenhead road, apparently on its way back to California. A London railway porter was found guilty of stealing twelve bottles of deodorant, which he explained be wanted for his girl-friend.
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