March 7, 1974

Harry L Sears testifies at Mitchell-Stans trial that he was told by Laurence B Richardson Jr, an assoc of financier Robert L Vesco, that Maurice Stans wanted Vesco's $200,000 contribution to Pres Nixon's re-election campaign to be given in cash; Stans has testified before grand jury in '73 that he did not specify cash; says Vesco was not happy about request for cash, and asked Pres Nixon's bro Edward to confirm it with Stans; says Stans did not mind accepting money 3 days after effective date of new campaign finance disclosure law; Stans has said he did not rept contribution because it was pledged before effective date; Sears testifies he wrote memo about Vesco to John Mitchell on Jan 12 '72 in answer to Mitchell's request for information to give to John D Ehrlichman, then Pres Nixon's chief domestic adviser; says Ehrlichman had been asked to put in 'a good word' for Vesco at various US embassies overseas; Mitchell has testified to grand jury that Sears never gave him anything in writing about vesco; Stans illus (L)

French react sharply to new Amer criticism of their policies and those of their partners in EEC; challenge State Dept spokesman George S Vest assertion EEC nations failed to consult US before deciding to make broad offer of econ and other cooperation to Arab countries; newspaper Le Monde denounces criticism of France by Amer officials with Kissinger on his Middle East tour and attributes criticism to Kissinger directly; also replies to Vest; says criticism implies Eur must not speak or act without US consent (M)

Sen rejects proposed salary increases for Fed judges on Mar 6; Sen Mike Mansfield charges that Fed judges lobbied for increases because dist ct judges were resigning, claiming $40,000 salaries were far less than they could earn in private law practice; holds lawyers in every state are willing to replace them (S)

Pres Nixon's atty James D St Clair says Nixon has agreed to turn over to HR Judiciary Com all documents and tape recordings that White House has sent to Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski, that he is willing to submit to written questions from com and, if needed, to submit to 'int' by small number of com members at White House; Nixon says at his news conf that such a meeting would be with Reprs P W Rodino Jr and E Hutchinson; says among material to be released to com are 19 tape recordings and about 700 pages of documents; St Clair says offer does not represent change in 'attitude or policy' but change in 'circumstances'; St Clair's announcement about documents and possible questioning by com members comes at hearing before Judge John J Sirica and his other remarks come at news conf following hearing; at hearing, attys for 7 men indicted Mar 1 all oppose turning over grand jury's secret rept and accompanying documents to com on ground that it might create prejudicial pretrial publicity for their clients; several defense attys argue that grand jury legally had no business issuing repts; HR Judiciary Com counsel John Doar and Albert E Jenner Jr say com has requested rept and briefcase; Sirica asks Doar if impeachment action could wait until after trial, which is set for Sept 9; Doar says HR has overriding duty and authority to look into impeachment; Nixon refuses to discuss indictments, says he will do nothing to weaken office of Pres and therefore will not submit to cross-examination under oath, news conf; discusses his Mar 21 '73 meeting with John W Dean 3d and H R Haldeman at which subjects of exec clemency and hush money for Watergate burglars were discussed; prosecutor Philip A Lacovara, atty John J Wilson and Repr R McClory comment; illus of St Clair with 2 aides (L)

Brit Prime Min Wilson, upon settlement of coal miners' strike, is expected to cancel decree putting indus on 3-day workweek, which has crippled nation for more than 2 mos and cut wages, production and vital exports; Labor party sees coal miners' settlement as triumph for Wilson, but fear looms that other unions will seek equally high settlements; unions have pledged reasonable approach to future wage settlements; Trades Union Cong renews pledge that agreement would not be used by other unions as argument for more pay (M)