December 6, 1974

Judge John J Sirica on Dec 5 says former Pres Nixon need not testify on witness stand or through deposition in Watergate cover-up trial; cites as reasons for decision Nixon's poor health and type of testimony that he could be expected to give in response to questioning by attys for 3 defendants who have sought his testimony; questions value of any testimony Nixon might have given and points out that Nixon is unindicted co-conspirator in case; says remaining testimony in trial can be concluded 'well before' Jan 6, earliest date on which ct-apptd drs have said Nixon could provide deposition; defendants John D Ehrlichman, J N Mitchell and H R Haldeman had asked for permission to take Nixon's deposition on Jan 6; Sirica asks jurors to decide whether they would be willing to sit longer in afternoons and attend ct on Saturdays in attempt to conclude trial by Dec 19 or 20; attys for 3 defendants who sought Nixon's deposition say they have no plans to contest Sirica's ruling before case goes to jury for verdict; Nixon's atty Herbert J Miller Jr files response with Sirica contesting Ehrlichman's motion to take Nixon's deposition, saying that Nixon would not in fact have been ready to take a deposition by Jan 6; says Nixon needs 'substantial' amount of time to 'prepare for the interrogation'; contends Nixon's attys have been able to do little preparation so far because 'shipment of Mr Nixon's records to Calif' had been 'embargoed'; H R Haldeman rests his case; John D Ehrlichman begins his defense; Charles W Colson testifies as 'ct witness'; says Haldeman told him on Mar 23 '73 in conversation about possibility that burglar E Howard Hunt might tell the truth to the authorities, 'We can't let that happen'; says Mitchell remarked to him in June '72 that if he knew the room in which a meeting was to be held, he would be able to tell exactly what was being said at the meeting, a remark Colson interpreted as statement that room could be bugged; says that in Jan '73 Ehrlichman told him he could speak to Hunt's atty and give him assurances of his, Colson's, continued friendship for Hunt (L)

Fed Reserve Chmn Arthur F Burns, urging Cong to delay for 6 mos bill permitting Amers to own gold in testimony before House Banking subcom, fears Amers will buy gold with money transferred from savings accts or common stocks, thus dimming prospects for larger supply of mortgage credit in thrift insts (M)

In the first significant move to rollback domestic air fares after 12 months of steady increases, United Air Lines sought Government approval yesterday to introduce a new cutrate excursion plan Feb. 1, reducing coach‐class rates on most routes by 20 to 25 per cent.

NYC Parking Violations Bur, confronted with $177-million backlog of uncollected fines and penalties, is working out procedures with county clerks in city and suburbs to place liens on homes and other real estate of scofflaws with 3 or more unpaid parking tickets; liens are to be directed primarily at out-of-towners who make up large share of thousands of scofflaws who have ignored summonses; Mayor Beame signaled new get tough policy when he recently rejected City Councilman Matthew J Troy Jr proposal for scofflaw amnesty period; Transportation Admr Michael J Lazar and bur Dir Elbert Hinkson plan to add more collection agencies to pursuing scofflaws, ask Legis to cut from 3 to 2 number of unpaid tickets that officially define scofflaw, to extend from 8 mos to 2 yrs time during which scofflaw is denied right to reregister his vehicle, and seek reciprocity agreements with other states to collect fines from nonresidents (M)

HR Speaker C Albert and Repr T P O'Neill Jr deny that they ordered Repr A Ullman, probable successor to Repr W D Mills as HR Ways and Means Com Chmn, to defer reorgn of com until new members are seated in Jan; say com can do as it pleases; controversy surrounds reptd attempt of com incumbents to vote themselves into almost irreversible positions of seniority; at stake in reorgn of com are 2 main issues: dividing Ways and Means into subcoms for 1st time since Mills became chmn in '58 and 'grandfathering' incumbent members into seniority positions before 12 and possibly 13 new Dems join com in Jan; Reprs J E Karth and P Burton comment (M)