Page 8, The Herald, Tuesday, December 19, 1978 with their throats slashed in the Peoples Temple house in Georgetown. The bodies were found Nov. 18, after more than 900 cult members died in €@ mass murder-suicide at the cult settlement of - Jonestown, 240 kilo- metres northwest of Georgetown. . Jones testifled at Beik- man's pre-trial hearing, which is being held to determine whether there 4s enough evidence to send the case to a jury trial, Beikman is accused in the deaths of Sharon Amos, 42, the cult’s media representative, and her daughters Liane Harris,’ 21, Christine, 11, and Martin, 9 He also is charged with attempted murder of the daughter, Stephanie, 12, who sur- vived a fourinch ‘gash in her throat, A murder conviction carries the death sen- FROM PAGE J] Jones’ son admits multiple murders tence in Guyana. The prosecution has entered a_ statement made by Beikman in which he admits being in the room when the slayings occurred, but that he denied cutting anyone's throat, The de- fence is attepting to keep the statement from being entered as evidence. Jones at first testified that he was -in- Georgetown with the cult basketball team the day . of the mass suicide and had been at a Georgetown hotel when the murders took place at the cult’s Georgetown house. Jones said he told Beik- man that if Beikman did not give the police a statement, ‘‘they. are going tocharge us all with murder,” But Jones appeared to grow irritated under questioning from prosecutor Carlton Weithers, When asked if TENTATIVE AGREEMENT VICTORIA (CP) — The 18,-000-member Hospital Employees Union (HEU) has reached a tentative agreement with the unicn representing its staff after nearly a year of negotiations, a spokesman said Monday. Bob MeCariney, president of the Hospital Employees Staif Union said the 30 staff repre- sentatives and office employees in Vancouver, Victoria and Kamloops will vote on the agreement | early = in January. — The HEU staff mem- bers have been without a contract since Dec. 4, 1977. Talks broke off last month but resumed about two weeks ago. Meanwhile, tradesmen at Royal Jubilee Hospital here say the ad- ministration is stalling negotiations he had been part of a conspiracy to commit murder, he replied: “Yeah, [ killed them and was just trying to throw {t off on Chuck.” Both the prosecutor and Magistrate Desmond Christian asked Jones to repeat the statement, which he did. “There are no legal implications to Jones's statement,'’’ Weithers said later. “It just makes him less credit-worthy as a witness.” A similar pre-trial hearing is to resume Wednesday in the case of Larry Layton, 32, who is accused of murdering California Congressman Leo Ryan and four other persons. They had been gunned down Nov, 18 in an airstrip ambush after visiting the Peoples Temple to investigate allegations mis- treatment of cult members. K.W.T. Moulson, C.G.A, B.C. and take office on January 1, 1979. Moulson and Company in Victoria. FROM PAGE 1 Simpsons deal collapses hearing of the Ontario and Quebee Securities Com- missions in the Montreal courthouse, then = fled refusing to questions, He sald a disagreement arose last Sunday between Simpsons and its American partner in the proposed merger, and it could not be resolved. This left Simpsons- Sears no choice but to with- Graw its offer, “We have no viable merger alternative to offer our shareholders,” he said, “We must take the position, in their interest, that the only viable alternative open to them now is The Bay offer.’* He spoke to the silent courtroom softly but clearly, saying ‘the misun- derstanding was primarily on the Canadian end,” He refused to specify the nature of the disagreement. “We withdraw everything—- with great regret.” After his five-minute statement, Tory dashed from the courtreom, telling reporters he had nothing to Bay. “The terms just couldn't be worked out; that's my only comment.” The Toronto lawyer's statement caught officials of The Bay, the Ontario Securities Commission and the Quebec Securities Commission completely off answer guard ard. They had gathered in Mon- treal to hear an application by Simpsons that a trading suspension on its stock, imposed Thursday on both the Toronto and Montreal stock exchanges, be lifted. But before the hearing began, Tory made the an- nouncement. In taking Sears out of the running for Simpsons, Tory ended a bitter month-long battle between his company and The Bay. Simpsons and SimpsonsSears officlaliy made their merger propasal on Nov. 13. Two weeks later, The Bay surprised observers by announcing it was also bidding for the department store. Both proposals had to be reviewed by the federa] government—The Bay’s by the bureau of competition policy and Sears’ by the Foreign Investment Review Agency. In each case, the govern- ment said it had no ob- jections and thew the decision back to Simpsons’ shareholders, They are scheduled to meet sometime In January to vote on The Bay's offer, UICdebate drag OTTAWA (CP)—In the face of a flood of New Democratic Party amend- ments to the government's unemployment insurance bill, the government asked MPs on Monday to consider sitting extra hours to pass the legislation by Thursday. Deputy Prime Minister Allan MacEachen made the request before final Com- mons debate on the bill began with the NDP de- claring war by proposing 24 amendments designed to strip the guts from the bill, MacEachen said later he’ would decide whether to take action to restrict debating time alter speaking to op- position party leaders today. MPs are scheduled to rise Thuraday night for a one- month Christmas recess, The measures the government hopes to have in law Jan. 1 would reduce benefits by about 10 per cent, make about 250,000 persons ineligible for benefits by mid-196], tax back some benefits from high income earners and shift greater costs to the private sector from government. The tone of Monday's debate was highly partisan with Employment Minister Bud Cullen and Bill Clarke, Conservative unemployment insurance critic, accusing the NDP of obstructing the bill for unsound reasons. John Rodriguez (NDP— Nickel Belt) said Cullen’s “mouth should be washed out withsoap” because of his recent statements suggesting unemployed youth should travel to seek work, And Bob Rae (NDP— Toronto-Broadview) said a statement by Clarke that New Democrats are dreamers who Would ralher have insurance recipients .other factors. than taxpayers “reactionary twaddle.” The New Democrats said the Liberals and the Con: servatives are in league with one another and with big business to push the measures through with little regard for their effect on the unemployed. Commons Speaker James Jerome said he will accept arguments from MPs today on proposed amendments that he has reservations about on procedural grounds. One of them is ian amend ment propa y Que Liberal Jacques Lavoie that would require insurance beneficiaries to partially repay benefits by working on was government projects or . participating in government manpower training courses, “We can have full employ- ment," said Lavoie, MP for the Hochelaga constituency in Montreal. He suggested the program be called work insurance and that MPs stop talking about wunem- ployment. Jerome also sald he had reservations about a government amendment that would give women unemployed because of pregnancy the same right to insurance coverage as persons out of work because of illness, imprisonment and But he suggested the measure may be accepted with unanimous consent from MPs later. Jerome also expressed doubt about a Rodriguez proposal to delay the new Insurance rules until the unemployment rate has fallen to at least four per cent for at least one year, The unemployment rate now is more than double that figure with more than 900,000 persons out of work. Vancouver. W.N. Perrault, C.G.A, The Board of Governors of the Certified General Accountants’ Association of British Columbia announce the newly elected officers of the Association. The officers were elected at an Organizational Meeting of the Board at Harrison Hot Springs, President is K.W.T. Moulson, €.G.A., partner in Mann, First Vice-President is W.N. Perrault, C.G.A., RI. (B.C.), F.R.I, N.P., partner in Perrault, Smyth and Company in North WA. Walters, C.G.A. Second Vice-President is W. A. Walters, C.G.A., partner in Barclay, Tarr, Walters and Company in Qualicum Beach. Executive Director and Secretary of the Association is G.F. McKinnon of Vancouver. aera § Certified General |__| Accountants’ Association G.F. McKinnon of British Columbia DAYS LEFT ONLY 9 SHOPPING Loe oN everyone. from the Management and Staff at General Furniture Stores Limited *" {May Peace be with y you and your loved ones this special holiday season. Our best greetings of the season to NO CHARGE DELIVF®Y TO TERRACE, KITIMAT, PRINCE RUPERT, SMITHERS 4717 LAKELSE, NEXT TO SKEENA MALL 635-49 31