Pacific atom test arouses alarm

STORY ON BACK PAGE

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PREMIER wu : ae
EMIER NIKOLAI BULGANIN

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EMIER EDGAR FAURE

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ig Four meeting seen

SOVIET PEAGE PLAN
NCED IN UN |

‘‘Co-existence is the invariable principle of Soviet foreign policy,’ USSR Premier Nikolai Bulganin said this
week in a statement indicating his country is interested in promoting a Big Four meeting of the heads of state to
discuss international problems, as suggested by Britain, France and the United States.

firmly convinced that, providing th

problems,’’ said Bulganin.

Royal City dumps
proposed BCE pact

NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C.

Giving the B.C. Electric a powerful jolt Monday night this week,
New Westminster City Council ended 15 months of negotiations by
throwing out a proposed power agreement with the company.

Council members abruptly switched from a pro-BCE stand after

Batcheller, brought to the city
as a technical advisor.

Warning that there was not a
single item in the BCE agree-
ment that would benefit the city,
Batcheller pleaded:

“Please don’t sign this docu-
ment. You would only cut your

Labor demands
gas referendum .

Vancouver Labor Council (CCL)
went on record this week de-
manding a full-scale community
probe and a public referendum
on B.C. Electric plans to dis-
tribute Peace River natural gas
to the lower mainland.

“Gas distribution by the BCE
would tighten that monopoly’s
stranglehold on our natural re-
sources,” said Sam Jenkins,
Marine Workers and Boilermak-
ers’ president. “We should take
the lead in calling a conference
of all interested organizations
and groups in Vancouver to in-
vestigate BCE’s right to distri-
bute gas.”

own throat. Keep the power
company out of your city. The
only solution of your problem
is to expropriate present B.C.
Electric holdings. Your light
revenue can be doubled if you
pay the company’s return for
one year. This will mean an
extra $800,000 a year revenue,
of which half will be profit.”

Reminding council that the
BCE is not the only ‘source of
power, Batcheller said that elec-
tricity is available from Ana-
cortes and Ferndale.

“A little competition would
put the B.C. Electric off its high
horse and cut the rate in half,”
he added.

Following the Seattle expert’s
hour-long address council veted
to scrap the proposed BCE agree-
ment, with Ald A. J. Alliston
the only hold-out.

When Forrest Shaw, the city’s
legal advisor, said that the city
did not have the right to expro-
priate BCE holdings, Batcheller
said he was assured by Public

Continued on back page
See BCE

His statement came simultan-
eously with a Soviet proposal to
the United Nations for reduc-
tion of armed forces, 4 gradual
ban on nuclear weapons and
swift withdrawal of most. for-
eign troops from East and West
Germany.

Under the Soviet plan, dis-
armament would be accomplish-
ed in two stages, to be complet-
ed in 1957; under it, the armed
forces of the United States,
USSR and China would be limit-
ed to fram 1,000,000 to 1,500,000
men each and Britain and
France would be allowed to
keep 650,000 men each under
arms.

To “free humanity from the

“The Soviet government is

ere is good will, it would be possible to settle a number of important international

threat of a new destructive war”
the Soviet Union made three
specific proposals:

@ Full prohibition of the use
and production of nuclear and
other weapons of mass destruc-
tion and the diversion of this
potential energy to peaceful
uses.

@ Substantial reduction of
all armed forces and conven-
tional arms.

S _ Setting up of a control
organ with right and authority

guaranteeing effective observa-_

tion by all countries of this pro-
hibition and reduction.
On the key question of method

Continued on back page
See BIG FOUR

Solving the problems
of older workers

page 9

Soviets designing new
atomic power plants

page 9

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