UK diplomat meets Stacey
Mr. R.F. Cummings, Second Secretary in British High Commissioner’s office in Madras, to-day [May 12] flew to Coimbatore and Mr. T.C.M. Stacey, British Journalist, who is now in the Central Jail here [Coimbatore] following arrest by the Central Intelligence officials consequent on his unauthorised meeting with Sheikh Abdullah in Ootacamund on May 10. Mr. Cummings, who was accompanied by Mr. A.F.W. Low, Chairman of the Association of the Nationals of the United Kingdom in Coimbatore, met Mr. Stacey in the Central Jail here [Coimbatore] this evening [May 12] and enquired about the circumstances under which he was arrested. Mr. Cummings will leave for Ootacamund to-morrow [May 13] where he said he would meet the District Collector and the Chief Secretary to the Madras Government to discuss the question of the release of Mr. Stacey. It is now learnt that Mr. Stacey came to Karachi recently to report of the border clashes in the Rann of Kutch area and from there proceeded to Colombo on his way to India.
Protest against CSIR decisions
The governing body of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research is understood to have taken strong exception at its meeting here [New Delhi] on May 6 to certain administrative decisions made without its prior consent. One of the actions criticised was the constitution by the Council’s administration of research committees to advise on grants and scientific policy.
Shrine on rock for Vivekananda
The Vivekananda Rock Memorial Committee has announced the final shape of the Vivekananda Rock Memorial Scheme prepared in consultation with the Madras Government.
The Committee has decided to construct a shrine-like structure, a mandapam including a full-size bronze statue of the Swamiji within it, at an estimated cost of Rs. 31.5 lakhs of the Vivekananda Rock, 1,000 feet off the Kanyakumari shore. Regional committees are being formed in the different States to collect funds for the construction work which has already started. The committee has decided to erect jetty-platforms, both at the foot of the rock and the shore for ferrying visitors to and fro the Rock, as also transporting building materials to the memorial-site. On the inside walls of the mandapam chosen quotations from the scriptures as well as from the Swamiji’s writings are proposed to be inscribed. Important incidents in the Swamiji’s life are to be depicted in relief.
