Woman May Sail In Protest

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31096, 27 June 1966, Page 1

Woman May Sail In Protest

A Christchurch woman has volunteered to join the crew of the protest ship which will sail to the area in the Pacific where French nuclear tests will be held. The secretary of the Christchurch branch of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (Mrs R. Plumridge) said last evening.

Mrs Plumridge said that she was unable to release the name of the woman until a decision had been reached about the practicability of her joining the voyage. “She is a widow with an adult family.” Mrs Plumridge said: “She has offered her services as cook for the voyage. I think it would be wonderful if she could go but we don’t know if there will be suitable accommodation on the ship for a woman." Mrs Plumridge said that the

names of two men who had applied for the voyage had already been sent to Australia. She said the woman’s name would also be sent. “The two men who applied have excellent qualifications,” she said, “but we do not know if they will be required for

the crew. Others with similar claims to make the trip may already have applied. As soon as someone has definitely been chosen we shall release names. Until then we don’t want anyone to build up their hopes.” The trust fund for the pro-

test voyage stands at £5O. Mrs Plumridge attributed the disappointing response to the fact that people were at present not sure that the voyage would take place. “If at all possible those people will sail into the Pacific,” she said. “As soon as someone is chosen, I am sure a good deal more money will come in. It is just a pity that it is now that it is urgently required.” Speculations that France will explode her first nuclear bomb early next month have been strengthened by newspaper reports forecasting the date as July 1 or 2, according to a cable message from Papeete. Reporting on arrangements to fly senior members of the French and Tahitian Governments on June 30 from Tahiti to the Tuamotu Archipelago where the tests will be held, was the French-language “La Depeche de Tahiti.”

“The first French nuclear experiment in the Pacific will take place in the first few days of July, probably on the first or second,” it said.

Another newspaper, “Les Nouvelles” said the test site at Mururoa Atoll, 776 miles from Tahiti, would be ready by July 1. Weather permitting, “it seems likely that the first nuclear test is now imminent,” it said. Officials will watch the mushroom cloud swirl up from observation posts on the cruiser De Grasse, whose signal will detonate the device on Mururoa.

The cruiser flagship of the Pacific experimental nuclear is completely sealed and was modified for a nuclear role.

Other vantage points will be the aircraft carrier Foch and Gambier Island, in the Tuamotu group. Among official guests is the French Minister for Overseas Territories and Dependencies (General Pierre Billotte). Tahitian officials will include the president of the Polynesian assembly, Mr Jacques Tauraa.