July 17, 1973

State engineers charged yes terday that Orange and Rock land Utilities had tried to jus tify a gas rate increase by mov ing its thermometer from the side of its heated headquarters building to the top of a 100‐foot radio tower to prove that 1972 was the coldest in 36 years.

White House confirms on July 16, in lr to Sen Ervin from White House counsel J F Buzhardt Jr, that nearly all of Pres Nixon's official meetings and telephone conversations were secretly recorded; Buzhardt asserts that 'system, which is still in use, is similar to that employed by the last Adm and which had been discontinued' from '69 until early '71; assertion is immediately challenged by 2 of Pres Johnson's closest advisers; J A Califano Jr calls statement 'damned outrageous smear' on a dead Pres; Secret Service repr J Murray says agency installed hidden recording equipment at Nixon's request but had never done similar work for any other Adm; Buzhardt's lr promises fuller statement 'shortly'; Nixon's action in requesting recording was apparently not illegal; White House did violate telephone co rule requiring that conversations being recorded be interrupted by periodic beep to let person at other end of line know he was being recorded; Murray says tapes are stored somewhere in White House under Secret Service supervision but in 'custody' of Adm; confirms A P Butterfield's testimony that listening devices were placed in White House, Exec Office Bldg and Camp David; Califano says some meetings in Cabinet Room in '68 were recorded but it was done through microphones placed on tables in full view of all participants, telephone int; says there was no secret wiring; Repr J R Jones, ex-Johnson aide, says only recording equipment he knew of was on telephone at LBJ Ranch and it was used exclusively to take down complicated messages for relay to Pres; GSA, which has jurisdiction of Johnson Library, Austin, Tex, says its archives contain 'section of materials' dealing with telephone conversations transcribed manually by a sec or on Dictaphone belts, as well as transcripts of Cabinet Room meetings mentioned by Califano; text of Buzhardt's lr; Buzhardt illus

NJ Banking Comr Schaub on July 16 raises interest rate on mortgages from 7 1/2% to 8%; says raise takes effect immediately and blames it on Fed Govt July 6 announcement that higher interest rates could be paid on savings and time deposits

Sec J R Schlesinger acknowledges, July 16, that US B-52s were secretly attacking Cambodia in '69 and '70 while the US was publicly professing its respect for Cambodia's neutrality in the Vietnam war, lr to Sen S Symington; defends unannounced and unreptd raids as 'fully authorized' and necessary for the protection of US troops; says that because of the 'sensitive operational and diplomatic situation, special security precautions were taken to insure that the operations would not be compromised'; H M Knight testifies before Sen Armed Services Com that he and others deliberately falsified highly classified repts made after missions to prevent any officials recording of the bombings; says he destroyed all evidence of the actual targets in a special burner constructed near his unit; Symington says he will continue the com inquiry in attempt to determine why high Govt officials deemed it necessary to order subordinates to violate mil law by falsifying official documents; question of how widespread was the falsification of documents left unanswered; Gen G S Brown, who commanded 7th Air Force, at time of unreptd bombings, says destruction of documents and other procedures outlined by Knight were authorized at higher levels; says there was no deception by Knight since he acted according to orders designed to conceal the secret bombing operations; says special security was designed to provide for maximum security, not to mislead; Knight says there was an intent to deceive; says a superior officer told him object of falsification was to keep facts from Sen Foreign Relations Com and Sen Fulbright; Sen Hughes notes that after 2 yrs of repeated requests, he finally got a Defense Dept list of bombing missions, but that the document does not list any B-52 raids over Cambodia before May '70; says he is 'baffled' by reference in Schlesinge'rs lr about the sensitive diplomatic situation, a reference to the conducting of the raids with the tacit approval of Prince Norodom Sihanouk; Symington and Knight illus

President Nixon was re ported yesterday to be “pro gressing satisfactorily” in his recovery from viral pneu monia at the Bethesda Naval Hospital. Details on Page 27.