Journal: BBC Report. Suez 1956.

This report has some relevance to my time in Cyprus. I landed in Nicosia on the eve of the British/French air attack on Egypt. As we flew across the Mediterranean we sighted the Royal Navy steaming in battle formation spread from horizon to horizon heading for Suez.

Britain 'planned to cut off Nile'

Britain drew up plans to cut the flow of the River Nile to Egypt to force President Gamal Abdel Nasser to give up the Suez Canal in 1956, files reveal.
Military officials believed they could harm agriculture and cut communications by reducing the flow of water, newly-released documents show.
The plan was outlined to Prime Minister Anthony Eden six weeks before British and French forces invaded Egypt.
But it was abandoned because of fears it would trigger a violent backlash.
Under the plan, Britain would have used a dam in Uganda to reduce water levels in the White Nile by seven-eighths.
But planners realised that the scheme would take months to work, and could also harm other states such as Kenya and Uganda.
One British official noted that the plan, while unworkable, could still be useful.
"It might be possible to spread the word among the more illiterate Egyptians that 'unless Nasser climbs down, Britain will cut off the Nile'," Cabinet official John Hunt was revealed to have said.
'No legal justification'
The Suez crisis was triggered in July 1956 when the Egyptian president nationalised the Suez Canal, a vital trading route from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.
Britain and France joined forces with Israel and the three nations attacked in October 1956 in a bid to regain control of the canal, but US and UN pressure forced a withdrawal.
The documents, released to the National Archives in Kew, also show the prime minister was urged to conceal the fact that his attorney-general had warned that the invasion was illegal.
At the time, UK lawmakers were claiming that the action was legal.
But Attorney General Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller - father of current MI5 head Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller - wrote a strong letter challenging this.
"I am unable to devise any argument which could purport to justify in international law either our demand that she [Egypt]... should withdraw her forces from a part of her own territory which she is engaged in defending, or the threat to occupy her territory by armed forces should she fail to accede that demand," he wrote.
Then-Cabinet Secretary Sir Norman Brooks told the prime minister that he should not raise the issue of the war's legality in future speeches.
The Suez crisis damaged Sir Anthony's reputation and led to his resignation in 1957.
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/6197002.stmPublished: 2006/12/01 00:46:33 GMT© BBC MMVI

The Final Journey of the Maori Queen


Maori pall bearers carry the coffin of Maori Queen Dame Te Atairangikaahu towards Taupiri Cemetery









Te Ata's eldest son, King Tuheitia Paki sits on the throne at his coronation


Tens of thousands of mourners surrounded a sacred hill yesterday as Maoris laid their tribal queen to rest with a moving ceremony on a scale rarely seen in New Zealand.

Tears flowed and dirges filled the air as the body of Dame TeAtairangikaahuwho had served as the Maori Queen for 40 years was transported on a waka, or traditional canoe, by river to the hillside where she was buried near her ancestors.

Dame Te Ata, as she was known, died last week aged 75 after a long struggle with failing health. Large crowds, mainly made up of Maoris but also including many New Zealanders of European descent, travelled from all over the country to attend the funeral, held at the Turangawaewae royal marae, or meeting house, in the small town of Ngaruawahia, near Hamilton on the North Island.

State Highway 1, the main route linking Wellington and Auckland, was closed for more than seven hours and diversions put in place because of the sheer number of people thronging the town.

Yesterday was the climax of six days of mourning, and it began with the coronation of Dame Te Ata's successor, her eldest son Tuheitia Paki, aged 51. After the winter sun rose and early fog parted, the new king was anointed wearing the feathered cloak of his ancestors, and with a Bible placed on top of his head.In the inter-denominational funeral service that followed, the Anglican Archbishop of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, Whakahuihui Vercoe, said of Dame Te Ata: "Many women have done excellently, but you have surpassed them all".

Messages of condolence were read from the Queen, Prince Charles and Pope Benedict XVI.

When three white doves were freed to symbolise the release of Dame Te Ata's spirit, one lingered on the ground, which mourners took as a sign that their much-loved queen was reluctant to leave them.

A hearse took the coffin from the marae to the Waikato river, where thousands more people lined the banks to watch the royal waka, paddled by bare-chested warriors, carry it the four miles to the sacred Taupiri Mountain. A spontaneous haka, or war dance, broke out as the waka left the shore. The outpouring of grief continued with more hakas, chants of lamentation, the sound of car horns and the wail of bagpipes as the waka made its journey. Finally, the coffin was carried up the steep 300ft hillside on the shoulders of eight pallbearers, assisted by dozens of helpers pulling on ropes. Helen Clark, the prime minister of New Zealand, said: "What an incredible tribute to see this vast crowd come, not only today but over the previous days, to pay tribute to an outstanding leader in Maoridom." "This isn't some tribal event out on a fringe, this is something that goes to the heart of New Zealand, something very special." More than 100,000 people are estimated to have paid their respects at the marae as the body lay in state over the past week.Dame Te Ata was the first woman to be chosen as head of the King Movement, which was established by Maori tribes in 1858 when they united in response to land seizures by the early colonial government. Although King Tuheitia continues a hereditary line of seven monarchs, succession is not automatic but rather a choice made by a gathering of tribal elders.

My Comments

The pre-funeral Coronation and the funeral itself lasted for approximately 6 hours and was shown on TV. I watched it all take place on TV and found it very moving. For the past 40 years I had many business dealings with Te Ata and her family And I found her a very pleasant and humble lady. Her husband Whatu was just as pleasant also; many times he would call into our business premises with work to be done or, to say hello in passing or for just a chat.

Watching him with his family walking slowly behind the coffin on TV, he looked so sad and miserable and my heart went out to him.

Journal: Yes, it is 2006.

Christmas and New Year's Day have quietly slipped by.

We visited Anthony in Hamilton for Christmas Day. He and Craig put on a very creditable feast for us and we really enjoyed it. We all enjoyed our visit and we stayed longer than we intended, arriving home in the early evening fully sated with food and wine.

New Year's Day was pleasantly celebrated at home. I managed to stay awake for the midnight hour and had a celebratory glass of wine and watched the TV celebrations for a while.

I was up again at 5 a.m. wide awake.

We plan to go to stay at Gillian's but the date is on hold. The weather presently is inclemently unstable. Maybe we will leave our visit until mid-January.

We decided to get Broadband at long last in late Dec. 2005. A sales phone call from our ISP and a price drop tipped us over the edge. I notice Pat is using her computer more since we changed over, down loading all kind of things. She cannot get Google Earth though. Not enough memory, I think. Will probably get her another stick of RAM.

Presently we have our 2 computers on Broadband plus the laptop for which I needed to get a plug-in card to run a ADSL cable. I still need to connect up my old computer for which I have got a network card to fit internally. Imagine, only $12 for a network card!