March 1, 1973

GAO is probing unreptd $200,000 contribution secretly given to Pres Nixon's re-election campaign by NJ financier R L Vesco, who is under Fed charges of securities fraud; former NJ State Sen H L Sears says he dissuaded Sears from contributing $500,000 to Nixon's re-election campaign but that he agreed to arrange for $250,000 contribution, of which only $50,000 was reptd; GAO repr describes failure to disclose contributions as 'apparent violation' of Fed Election Campaign Act; Justice Dept silent on whether it is probing secret contribution; 'apparent violation' described; SEC reptdly is seeking ct order barring Vesco from transferring his assets out of country; former Atty Gen Mitchell's role in affair outlined; case detailed

Assemblymen Biondo and Griffin on Feb 28 introduce bipartisan bill which would abolish statewide primary for chief judge of NYS Appeals Ct; observers see move as prelude to Dem endorsement of Repub Assoc Judge C D Breitel in his race for post; state Dem Chmn Crangle approves of bill; sources say Dems, in return for cross-endorsement of Breitel, have been promised veto power over next 2 openings on ct; 2 more Dems, State Sup Ct Justice V J Titone and Fed Dist Judge J B Weinstein, join Breitel and State Sup Ct Justice I R Brownstein in race; NYC Dem mayoral aspirant Assemblyman Blumenthal opposes bill as giving voters' power back to pol parties; Weinstein calls reptd arrangement 'sordid pol deal'

Militant Indians on Feb 28 hold at least 10 persons hostage in Wounded Knee, SD; relay demands to Washington that Sen Foreign Relations Com hold hearings on treaties made with Indians, that Sen begin 'full-scale investigation' of Govt treatment of Indians and that another inquiry be started into 'all Sioux reservations in SD'; protesters vow they will stay in Wounded Knee until they get answers from Fed Govt; pledge that hostages will not be harmed; Fed marshals, FBI agents and Indian Affairs Bur policemen surround Oglala Sioux hamlet; 2 armored personnel carriers are brought in; trading post and ch at Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation settlement are occupied by 200 to 300 members of Amer Indian Movement; Fed officers refuse to disclose any plans to rout militants and free the hostages; marshals exchange fire with Indians; no injuries are reptd; at least 17 persons are arrested during attempt to flee through cordon of nearly 100 Fed officers surrounding area; US Atty W Clayton says Indians will be charged with burglary, larceny and attempt to commit burglary; Chief D Wilson, whom Amer Indian Movement members sought unsuccessfully to oust from his post last wk, says militants are armed with hunting rifles and ammunition seized in takeover of trading post, and might have at least 2 machine guns; illus of seige area; illus; map

Assemblyman Jesse Gray of Manhattan formally announced, his candidacy for the Democratic mayoral nomination yesterday, becoming the first black and the seventh announced candidate for the Democratic nomination. Details on Page 28.

Mar 1-15: acting FBI dir Gray says on Feb 28 that he originally resisted making FBI's files on Watergate affair available to White House but that he finally allowed record of investigation to be given to Pres asst, testimony before Sen Judiciary Com, which is hold hearing on his apptmt as FBI dir; says that any Sen who wants to see Watergate files personally can do so but files will not be available to staff members, except those working for members of special Sen com; says that on June 19, 2 days after Watergate break-in, he received summary rept of investigation thus far that had 'come up through FBI channels'; copies of rept were addressed to Pres Nixon's chief of staff Haldeman and to Atty Gen Kleindienst; says that at time he did not think record of investigation should get out of FBI but that mo later, when Pres Nixon's counsel Dean requested material he gave rept on investigation to Kleindienst; assumes it then went to White House; says that following another request from Dean he then sent records of ints that agents had conducted during investigation to White House; says FBI agents on June 26 interviewed Calif lawyer D H Segretti, who is alleged to have conducted pol espionage and sabotage on behalf of Nixon campaign, but that FBI concluded that he had been involved in no illegal activities in connection with Watergate; says only information FBI had about spying and sabotage activities of Segretti came from news accounts subsequent to int; 1 news account says that Adm aides were believed to have shown Segretti copies of his FBI int and to have coached him on what to say to grand jury when he testified; Gray says he was angry, apparently believing that Dean might have been person to show material to Segretti; says he called Dean who told him that he did not have FBI repts in Fla and he took Dean's word for it

Iraq Pres A H al-Bakr announces Feb 28 that Iraq and Western-owned Iraq Petroleum Co have reached agreement on last yr's nationalization of co's oil fields and assets; co pays settlement of $350-million to Iraq; has accepted 15-million tons of Iraq crude oil for nationalization of its properties; agrees to relinquish concession for Mosul Petroleum Co

Cost of Living Council official, who insists he not be identified by name, holds briefing on Feb 28 on Dunlop tactics on wages in Phase 3 econ stabilization program; says Dunlop will practice active but quiet intervention in major labor-mgt negotiations in pursuit of non-inflationary settlements; says he would prefer to intervene before a contract is agreed upon rather than carry on former Pay Bd's practice of reviewing settlement afterwards; says he will take highly flexible approach, determining, with advice of Labor-Mgt Advisory Com, when settlement might appropriately be allowed to exceed official standard of 5.5% for wage increases and 0.7% for fringe benefits; refuses to comment on Ehrlichman remark that '5.5% guideline is being gently but firmly removed from folklore of wage and price controls'; reflecting complaints voiced to Dunlop by labor leaders, says rank-and-file workers have come to regard 5.5% as minimum pay rise mandated by Washington; says he thinks it significant that 5 mgt members of advisory com agree with Dunlop that a single, highly visible wage standard is unhelpful

 

Intricate diplomatic maneuvering in Paris, Feb 28, seems to ease crisis over delay in Amer POW release and to pave way for concluding internatl conf on Vietnam on Mar 2; Rogers met secretly with Hanoi Min Nguyen Duy Trinh and got assurances talks will begin 'at once' in Saigon for freeing of estimated 140 Amer POWs; Rogers reptdly made no promises, nor linked releases to anything else; in move aimed at meeting some of the Communist demands, Saigon Min Tran Van Lam reptdly arranged private session with Vietcong official, Mrs Nguyen Thi Binh, to discuss alleged cease-fire violations; Lam says 'constructive results' were achieved; Saigon spokesman says session was concerned with choosing site outside of Paris for talks on pol future of S Vietnam; diplomatic maneuvering on POW issue took place at meeting attended by 3 Vietnamese sides and Sec Rogers; Rogers reptdly insisted on release of POWs without any conditions; no full session of Paris conf held Feb 28 to allow drafting com to complete work on final document; Hanoi opposes mention in the declaration of postwar foreign aid except in most general terms; opposes aid by groups of nations; favors aid by individual countries; another potential problem is Canada's request that final document set up something to receive repts from internatl observation team; illus of Hanoi spokesman Nguyen Thanh Le

NYC City Council on Feb 28 moves to transfer authority to hire school guards from local school bds to central Educ Bd to prevent hiring of criminals; Finance Com chmn M J Troy Jr says he will ask state Legis to strip local bds of power to employ school guards; move is result of arrest on Feb 26 of 2 school guards and 1 school aide during attempted robbery of Manhattan supermarket; all 3 have criminal records and 1 is paroled murderer; Council insists that Educ Bd safety dir E Waith be given power to conduct security checks on potential employes in elementery, intermediate and jr hs, in addition to his authority over checking hs employes; Deputy Chancellor Anker says that Chancellor Scribner issued order that no school guard can be hired until Police Dept security check is completed; says that task force has been apptd to study situation of security lapse; illus

US started to sweep Haiphong (N Vietnam) harbor of mines Feb 27 and then abruptly stopped all operations; sweeping operation will not resume until US is assured that North Vietnam will proceed without further delay with release of Amer POWs; task force charged with clearing of mines is commanded by Rear Adm B McCauley

Italy will withdraw her state-subsidized passenger ships from service between NYC and Mediterranean ports and from all other long-distance routes within next 5 yrs under Govt bill sent to Parliament on Feb 28; indus sources expect luxury liners Michelangelo and Raffaello to abandon Trans-Atlantic runs much earlier, perhaps in '74; Mins Council on Feb 27 approves program to drop earlier plans to switch either Michelangelo or Raffaello to cruise business in Caribbean during winter season; Min Lupis says indus will concentrate on 'popular' Mediterranean cruises and on ferry routes between Ital mainland and islands of Sicily and Sardinia; because of their size, neither the Michelangelo and Raffaello, nor the Leonardo da Vinci and Christoforo Colombo, will be usable for Mediterranean tourism; future of 4 lines is uncertain; Govt reorgn plan envisages they may have to be scrapped, along with 10 other ships; Govt is prepared to sustain loss of up to $200-million through withdrawal from long-distance passenger runs; losses incurred on unprofitable Ital Line long-distance runs detailed; graph shows switch from ship to air travel; resistance of seaman's union to dismantling seen major factor in continuation of transoceanic service