Evening star., 1953-07-12
British and French
Ministers See Dulles
On Special Issues
By Crosby S. Moves


The Big Three conference Of
Foreign Ministers has gone into
its most tight-lipped stage as
Britain and France confer sep
arately with Secretary Of State
Dulles on matters of special con-
Germ to them.
For the moment, the central
problem Of the conference.-the
future policy toward Germany
and RusSia-has been laid aside.
Special working groups are busy
drawing up specific proposals for
the Foreign Ministers debate TO-
morrow
Yesterday afternoon, Britain's
Lord Salisbury was closeted with
Mr.. Dulles on the explosive prob
lens in the Middle East. In
particular, the talk centered on
Britain's huge military base in
the Suez Canal zone and the
problems the British are having
with Egypt over its future con-
troll. This, briefly, Is the back
ground on the situation:
Talks between the British and
the Egyptians broke down sew
eral weeks ago amid fierce de-
mands of the Naguib govern
ment that Britain evacuate the
vital base or run the risk of vio-
lence. At that point, the British
had agreed to turn the base over
to Egyptian control. The Egyp-
tianS agreed that a number of
British technicians should re-
main to maintain the expensive
and complicated installations.
The main points Of disagreement
are the number of these tech
nicians, and the British conten-
tion that they must be under
orders of the British War Office
instead Of the Egyptian govern
ment.
From time to time, Mr.. Dulles
has expressed confidence that q
solution to the deadlock can be
found. He is believed to have
some specific proposals to place
before the British at this point.
Suez Canal Discussed
There is no hint, however, of
what they may be. After yester-
days meeting. a State Depart
ment spokesman merely made
this brief announcement:
THE discussions were devoted
to the Middle East. The Secre-
tary outlined some of his findings
of his recent trip to this area
and the specific subject of the
Suez Canal base was discussed
in preliminary way and will
be continued next week"
State Department sources have
been unusually close-mouthed
about the talks, possibly appre-
henSive of arousing a feeling in
Egypt that Britain and the
United States are ganging up on /
them to force a settlement of
the issue.
Recently the Egyptians have
somewhat moderated their
threats to take the Suez base by
force, if necessary. There is
feeling that the time may be
ripe for re-opening negotiations
and American officials are
anxious to do nothing to upset
the applicant.
Salisbury Visiting Eden.
Today, Lord Salisbury is in
Newport, r. l., visiting with
Britain's ailirg Foreign Secretary
Anthony Eden. He will return
to Washington in time for re-
sumption of the Three Power
talks tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, French Foreign
Minister Bidault is getting in his
innings with Mr.. Dulles on the
question of Indo-C China dis
cussion in which the amount of
American aid is sure to loom
large. Mr.. Bidault will go to Mr..
Dulles home today for the meet
ing at 3 pm.
On other points under discus
sion, this is how the thinking of
the Big Three seems to shape
up at this point.
Russia-The ministers have
wracked their brains for an ex-
planation of the purge of Law
rentia P. Beria and have come
up with no firm conclusions. It
has been suggested the move