The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 1

LATE EDITION MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 1978 AONDAY JOB in seeuon TELEPHONE 2 0944 No. 43,695 28 PAGES 13 CENTS FIRST PUBLISHED 1831 lie jliifoitti JltaMiM WttM WUUl For Nguyen happiness is his new sandals Medibank levy rise forecast Iby MBF, sition Oppo The Federal Opposition and a major health fund believe the Federal Government will have to increase the Medibank levy. The Opposition's spokesman on health, Dr R. Klugman, said yesterday that he expected the Government to raise the levy from 2.5 per cent to 3 or 3.5 per cent. The existing $300 ceiling would also be lifted.

Dr JClugman said the increases would probably take effect from July 1. (Report, Page 2.) The general manager of the Medical Benefits Fund, Mr J. F. Cade, said the Government would now have no option but to increase the levy because of the high cost of running the health scheme. increase in medical and hos pital charges.

The Prime Minister, Mr Frascr, gave a categorical assurance during the election campaign that there would be no rise in the levy of 2.S per cent and no change in the ceiling during the financial year ending June 30 next. The expectations of a levy increase follow the decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on Saturday to overrule the refusal by the Federal There was some initial shyness by both aduifs and children but that changed to excitement as they took possession of their new clothes. Nguyen was no exception. In (1) he watches uncertainly as Mr Roger Pittaway, a volunteer, fits a sandal. In (2) his doubts have been replaced by enthusiasm and in (3) he walks away jhappily with his new sandals.

Nguyen Chien Cuong, 5, was one of 39 Vietnamese refugees who were fitted out with clothes and shoes yesterday. They went from the Westbridge migrant hostel at Leighton-. field to the Smith Family's welfare centre in Darlinghurst to receive their new outfits supplied by the Smith Family, the Red Cross and the St Vincent de Paul Society. nnnnt WITH 90 seconds of 1977 left, a single loud thunderclap boomed over the Blue Mountains. Was this, a reader asked.

Fate bidding farewell to the year which took so heavy a toll of life and property in the mountains? THE folksy menu from a Chatswood vegetarian restaurant makes a point of welcoming happy drunks and children as long as someone is there to look after them. It offers dole special salads and casseroles, at 1 each, but only for the unemployed, pensioners and children. "Do not abuse it," the menu warns, "or we may have to take this dish off." LOST and found. There is a motley collection of goods awaiting collection at the CIB's lost property office. The 1977 yield includes a pair of rubber thongs "in extremely used condition," the sergeant said, and 25 assorted single shoes.

Scores of electrical appliances which were unclaimed after unsuccessful burglaries or which fell from trucks are waiting to be claimed. By far the strangest item on the books is a matching pair of artificial legs. NOT much remains to be claimed at the large shopping centres, thanks to paging systems which enable most centres to restore misplaced wallets and parcels to owners. Children are a different matter, and at War-ringah Mall the administration office minds up to 20 detached youngsters a day. To keep them amused the staff used nearly 300 balloons and 30kg of biscuits during the Christmas rush.

Elsewhere, the PTC lost and found auction the Mecca of bargain hunters has a few surprise packets wrapped parcels left on trains and buses. The next auction is on January 11 at 509 Pitt Street. AMONG the more puzzling entries in the new Australian Who's Who is the om for Professor Robert Con-nell, the young Professor of Sociology at Macquarie University. His recreations are listed as cricket, surfing, subversion and archeology. CONSERVATIONISTS take note, says Pat Cunningham, of Woodford.

The native birds returned to the Blue Mountains almost before the last of the fires was extinguished. The flics were back even sooner. OUR man at the United Nations reports that an Australian touch has crept into the administrative jargon there. Staff now refer to the Special Political Committee (SPC) as the canned fruit committee. FORT DENISON: High, 2.24 am (1.3 metres), 2.20 pm (1.4 metres); Low, 8.13 am (0.6 metres), 8.49 (0.4 metres).

SUN: Rises .5.48, sets 8.10. MOON: Rises 12.07 am, sets 12.38 pm. Arts 8 Births, deaths etc 18 Comics, Crossword 21 Finance 12 Look! 12 Mails 20 Motoring 12 Shipping 20 Sport 20-24 Television lift-out between 14 and 15 Weather 20 Personal notices: 18 Including summary of death notices Classified index: 18 DIAL 2 0944 FOR ADVERTISING TODAY Now Year prospects Herald correspondents report on the outlook lor 1978 in Britain, the United States and South-East Asia. Page 7. A city Page 6.

under tnreat. Lookl talks to some of the; "little people" on the New Year Honours List. 1 Plus Sales Fashion Feature, TODAY'S WEATHER Metropolitan: Hot NW. Late thunderstorms. Max temps: City 32, Liverpool 36.

NSW: Mostly hot. Local storms. Cooler SW-South Coast. Details, Page 20. Late news Saving Venice 38 refugees in latest boat to reach Darwin 5 on dutv in response to fears that there could be further disturbances at the jail in the nf ihc four-hour riot on Christmas Day in which 200 nrisoncrs were involved and three warders were injured.

Fxtra staff will be on duty until tomorrow, when the prison officers' case will be heard acain in the State Industrial Commission. No incidents were reported during the weekend. The secretary of the prison officers' branch, Mr Tim Hickic, said warders through out the State were maintaining their ban on receiving pris oners at NSW jails until their recommendations were ac cepted. About 1.200 officers NSW jails voted last Tuesday to impose the ban until they receive an undertaking that Bathurst Jail will be reoncned as a maximum-security jail. It was closed after riots there in February, 1974.

Carter rules out role now for Jordan in peace talks TEHRAN, Sunday. Jordan will not take a direct part in the. present Middle East peace negotiations. DARWIN. Another Vietnamese refugee boat arrived here last night, defying efforts by Australian immigration officials to stop the flow of boat people entering the country illegally.

Australian immigration teams in Malaysia have arrang ed flights for more than 1,000 retugees Irom camps in soutn-East Asia, but the latest boat, the Thanh-hai, showed up unexpectedly. It was carrvine 38 refugees, including women and children, apparently from a camp off the Malaysian coast. Defence surveillance forces missed sighting the boat, but a veteran coast watcher saw it put ashore at Grose Island, 50 kilometres south-west of Darwin, yesterday morning. The coast watcher, nciicveu The MBF's board was con sidering whether to make a similar application. The MBF, with more than two million members, is the largest private fund in Australia.

The increase of $1.80 week granted to the HCF would not be enoush to cover the additional costs incurred bv the funds because of the introduction of new benefits by the State and Federal Govern ments; For several months the funds had been paying out more in benefits than they had been receiving in contributions. The Federal Government had recently introduced benefits for nursing home patients but many of these patients were virtually residents of the homes, "That is a socio-economic problem, not a health problem. so the funds should not have to bear that burden, he said A spokesman for the HCF said the fund had applied for an increase in its rates from November 1. No decision He emphasised that no decision had been made on when the new rates would apply. A decision would be made in a few days, The HCF spokesman said the main reasons for seeking an increase were higher doc tors' fees and the increased number of claims by members Many other funds had applied for an increase and others would certainly be applying in the light of the tribunal decision.

Some smaller funds, such as the Local Government Employees' Fund and the Wol- longong Hospital Contribution Fund, had already received an increase, Among those funds which have applied for an increase are the Mancncster unity the Hibernian Society and most recently, Medibank Private, which made its appli cation last Friday. African Mr Woods alter his esoape to Lesotho. not go into the offices of the newspaper he had edited for 12 years. His wife, Wendy, and their five children also made their way to Lesotho by a different route after telling friends in East London they were going flees in Minister for Health, Mr Hunt, to grant the Hospital Contributions Fund an increase in rates. Threat seen The president of the tri bunal, Mr Justice Brcnnan, said in his decision that to deny the HCF the 24 per cent increase it sought in its basic rate would involve a "threat to the solvency of the fund." The ruling will mean an increase of about $1.80 a week for families and 90c a week for single people.

This will bring the basic family rate up to S9.35 and the single rate to $4.68. Many 'other health-care funds have also applied for. an increase in their charges and others arc planning to apply. Mr Cade said he did not think people would rush to move to Medibank from the private funds now that the HCF charges were to be increased with the probability of a general increase early in the new year. At present the Medibank levy is $2.90 for single people and $5.80 for a family.

Single people earning more than $100 a week and families earning more than $200 a week find it cheaper to pay the levy. Mr Cade said recent additions to the number of benefits paid out by the health funds amounted to virtual raids" on the funds by health authorities. The new benefits, such as that for immunisations handled by the Federal Department of Health, had forced a number of funds into applying for an Banned MASERU, Lesotho, Sunday. The banned South African newspaper editor Donald Woods ftcd in disguise to Lesotho yesterday. Today he was planning a new future in Britain, which has promised him asylum.

He says he will stay in exile until South Africa's National Party Government is removed or brought down. Mr Woods, 43, editor of the East London Daily Dispatch and a fierce opponent of apartheid, hitch-hiked 300 kilometres to the Lesotho border wearing a false moustache and with his grey hair dyed black. Then he had to cross a flooded river. "I sot across by wading and half-swimming," he said in Maseru. Under the Government ban-ninu order.

Mr Woods was forbidden to write for any publication. He was not allowed to meet more than one person at a time, and could Shots fired as prison warder is attacked to be a forestry worker along the isolated stretch of coastline, radioed his discovery to Darwin police, who told the Navy. Tracker aircraft found the 23-mctre boat and kept it under surveillance until the RAN patrol boat Ardent intercepted it yesterday afternoon and escorted it to Darwin. Navy authorities here were surprised at the presence of the refugee boat. They had been told by immigration officials that no boats had left the camps in Malaysia and Thailand recently, and the Navy's sources in Indonesia and Singapore had not warned of the likely presence of another boat.

The Thanh-hai is the 28th Vietnamese refugee boat to arrive in Darwin, boosting the number of refugees to have reached Australia in this manner to 1,030. Todd, said the prisoner had assaulted warders before. The prisoner has been transferred to the Katingal special security section at Long Bay Jail. Ninety extra warders whose leave had been relinquished over the holiday weekend to provide increased security kept watch over Long Bay Jail. The atmosphere there was described as "unusually quiet" and "electric." The extra warders were put fourth Open crushed a weakened Helen Cawlcy 6-3, 6-0.

Mrs Cawlcy's title, her fourth in succession since her comeback to tournament tennis in mid-November, took her earnings from these victories to $57,650. Report in Sport, Page 24 see whether the peace initiative could be extended to include the' more moderate Arabs, such as the Jordanians, the more moderate Palestinians and the Saudi Arabians. President Carter had also indicated that at his meeting with President Sadat he would strive to heal the rift caused by his (Mr Carter's) remarks that the United States did not support an independent Palestinian State. President Carter meeting with King Hussein this morn ing represented, perhaps, the most important hour of the President's present world trip. The King had flown to Tehran for the meeting at the President request.

After meeting privately for about 20 minutes, the two leaders were joined by aides. including the US Secretary ot State, Mr Cyrus Vance. The meeting came only hours after Mr Carter and the King had left a banquet for 15 minutes ot private taixs, after which President Carter announced his intention of seeking President Sadat's sup port to bring the moderates into the peace talks. President Carter said yester day that his meeting with Presi- dent Sadat would take place in Aswan, where the Egyptian leader is on holiday. US officials said the session would be brief, probably about three hours, between Mr Car ter's scheduled stops in Riyadh) Saudi Arabia, and Paris.

(AAP). PAGE 5: Nuclear theme for Indian talks; Arafat hits Carter; Worldvicw. After conferring today with Jordan's King Hussein at the White Palace here, President Carter told reporters: "At the moment, I think President Sadat is strongly representing the Arab position and for the moment I see no reason I. think the King agrees for Jordan to join the talks, directly." After a brief meeting with the King soon after his arrival in Tehran yesterday. President Carter had said he would meet President Sadat in Egypt on Wednesday to editor disguise to their holiday home in Transkei, one of the black home-lands declared independent by South Africa.

In East London, Mr Terry Briceland, a close friend of Mr Woods and managing director of the Daily Dispatch, said Mr Woods's flight had come as a complete surprise. Mr Briceland said he had planned to try to get the banning order lifted next March and would have expected Mr Woods to. await the outcome of the attempt. In Port Elizabeth, South Africa, vestcrdav police open ed fire on thousands of blacks attending the funeral of a man shot dead last week. The blacks had gathered for the funeral of Mr Peter Sit- hole, shot dead last week by police.

(AAP-Rculcr) Warders fired shots at Parramatta jail yesterday to break ud an attack on an officer by a prisoner wield ing an iron bar. The warder, whose name had not been released last night, was in a satisfactory condition after being treated for head wounds at Parramatta Hospital. The chairman of the prison officers' branch of the Public Service Association, Mr Barry Evonne wins MELBOURNE. Evonne Cawlcy joined an elite group when she won the Australian Open singles title for the fourth lime at Koo-yong yesterday. Displaying the skill that lifted her to Wimbledon championship, Mrs Cawlcy Printed ind oubllihed by John Fairfax and Soni Ud.

ol Jonfli Street, roar), way. Postal address: Bex SOS, G0, Svdntv. 2001. Registered tor petttna at newspaper Category C. twcfjifV mended and maximum prh Mty.

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