MAJOR STILL A CAPTIVE

Chronicle (Levin), 30 January 1947, Page 5

MAJOR STILL A CAPTIVE

Press Assn

Marfial Law To Be Imposed If Not Returned IRGUN'S B'EFIANT BR0ADCAST

By Telegraph

.- CopyrigM

Received Thursday, 9.55 a.m. LONDON, Jan. 29. A high Pclice official said Major Collins had not yet returned. The police are speculating that the kidnappers may have decided to keep nim ldnger for treatment. The British Minister of Colonies Mr. A. Creech Jones, in the House of Commons, said he is helieved tc be seriously injured (according to he ASsociated Press he was hit on he head with an axe handle and ;hen ehlorof'ormed at the time of nis abduction) . The Palestine Government is imposing "statutory" martial law In certain areas of Palestine if Major Collins is not returned nnarmed, says an official announcement made in Jerusalem fcoday, reports the Exchange Telegraph's correspondent. The spokesman emphasised the word "unharmed." All curfews were lifted throughout Palestine today. Menahem Beigin, Irgun Zvai Leumi commander, replying over the secret radio to a statement of the British Minister of Colonies, Mr. A. Creech Jones, that further terrorism would mean the impositicn of military control in Palestine, said: "We don't fear your threats. The British will payt sevenfold if they execute Gruner." Reuter's Jerusalem correspondent says it is authoritatively reported that Gruner has agreed to si^n an application for leave to appeal to the Privy Council. A high official said the Government had extended the time limit for the imposition of martial law for failure to release Major Collins. It is reported that the lifting of the curfew restrictions was , arranged to allow Irgun Zvai i Leumi to oroduce Major Collins jwithout difficulty. Jude's Story i Mr. Justice Windham told the jTimes' Jerusalem correspondent jthat after being dragged from the Court on January 27 he was jliustled into a car, which drove at |great speed for 20 minutes. He was jthen blindfolded and led into a shed in what seemed to be a Jewish settlement. His captors were young jmasked men, who guaraed him one at a time and told him he was a jhostage for the condemned terrorist Gruner. He was given Jewi-h food and fruit and also the English language Palestine Post. When he read that Gruner had been given a respite he was not surprised. When told he would be freed, he was led from the shed and made to walk by a r^undabout roul-e for more than an hour, with a mask on. The mask was finally taken off and replaced by a handerchief. His captors then left him and he walked for an hour and eventually found a factory from where he telephoned the police. Justifiable Anger Commenting on the Palestine situation in his diocesan letter, the Archbishop of York, Dr. C. Garbett, says: "Justifiable anger is felt, not only against the accual terrorists but also against the reckless and unscrupulous support they receive from Jews in the United States and elsewhere." The Archbishop also says: "If the Jewish Agency is powerless to suppress terrorism, it won't be equal to the task of maintaining justice and order in a Jewish State."