TODDS ARRESTED

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32819, 20 January 1972, Page 1

TODDS ARRESTED

t.V.Z. Pr«u A»in —Copyright) SALISBURY (Rhodesia), Jan. 19.

Rhodesian police yesterday served detention orders on a former Prime Minister, Mr Garfield Todd, and his daughter, Judy.

The orders were served on Mr Todd, who is aged 63, and his 28-year-old daughter —both outspoken critics of Mr Smith’s regime—at their Shabani ranch, south-west of Salisbury. -Under the orders, Mr Todd must go to gaol at Gatooma and his daughter to a gaol at Marandellas. Mr Todd, New Zealandborn, was Premier of what was then Southern Rhodesia in the late 19505; since he was defeated he has been closely associated with the

major African nationalist parties in Rhodesia. . Both he and his daughter have spoken regularly overseas, renouncing the policies of the Smith regime. Last week, Mr Todd was the main speaker at a Bulawayo meeting called by the African National Council, a recently formed body opposed to the proposed AngloRhodesian settlement terms which the British Pearce Commission is attempting to evaluate. WIFE DISTRAUGHT His wife was distraught and would say only that the Orders had been served and the police had told her they

would be back' to look through her husband’s papers.

“They stretch back to the 1930 s and have been gone through by all sorts of historians so I don’t know what they expect to find,” she said. “It seems as if they want to find some strange plot,” she said. Mr Todd came to Rhodesia from New Zealand as a missionary in the early 19305. The Pearce Commission has “urgently” asked the Salisbury Government to give its reasons for detaining the Todds. The 16-man commission only this week started sounding out opinion of blacks and whites on acceptance of terms for the Rhodesian settlement. “DEEPLY CONCERNED” The commission said that it was “deeply concerned” that the Rhodesian Government had felt it necessary to make the arrests as the commission had a duty to satisfy itself that normal political activities were being permitted. In London, Mr Heath conferred last night with Mr Wilson over the detention of the Todds. Mr Wilson, who was Prime Minister when Rhodesia declared unilateral independence, asked Mr Heath for a meeting within a few minutes of receiving the news from Salisbury. Mr Wilson told the Prime Minister that the arrest of Mr Todd and his daughter called into question the whole basis of the conditions under which the Pearce Commission is working. Mr Arthur Bottomley, who was Commonwealth Secretary when Rhodesia seized independence, said: "The arrests strengthen my belief that the Pearce Commission ought to come home. This is the only way in which things can be brought to a head. “A CONTRADICTION” "The commission cannot do its work in these circumstances. Nothing can be done to get the Rhodesian matter settled short of Britain assuming full responsibility and taking the country over,” said Mr Bottomley.

The Justice for Rhodesia Campaign, which has the support of a former British United Nations representative, Lord Caradon, said tonight: “We hope that Lord Pearce will now realise that normal political activities and a Mr Smith state of emergency are a contradiction in terms.

“We believe that the detention of Mr Todd and his daughter demonstrates clearly that conditions within Rhodesia are those of a police State.” PUBLIC ORDER The “shadow Foreign Minister,” Mr Denis Healey, said: ‘T find it quite extraordinary that while Lord Pearce is testing the acceptability of the proposals under the promises from Mr Smith that normal political activities will be permitted, the 63-year-old European former Prime Minister of Rhodesia should have been put in prison with his 28-year-old daughter. “It was not, as far as I

can discover, for anything they are alleged to have done but simply because if they remain at liberty, they may present a threat to public order,” said Mr Healey.

The New Zealand Halt All Racist Tours organisation has sent a telegram to Mr Smith protesting about the imprisonment of Mr Todd and his daughter. The telegram, sent yesterday, reads: “On behalf of thousands of New Zealand-

ers, this organisation deplores and condemns your gaoling of Judy and Garfield Todd. Decency and morality both demand their immediate release.” The national chairman of H.A.R.T. (Mr T. Richards) said that telegrams had been sent also to the Prime Minister (Sir Keith Holyoake) and

the British High Commission in Wellington, urging protests by the respective Governments.