CENTRAL AFRICA NO SQUAWKS, PLEASE EVERYBODY WAS RUSHING TO LEAVE SIR ROY 
WELENSKY'S RICKETY RHODESIA FEDERATION . BLACK-RULED NYASALAND WAS ALREADY ASSURED OF 
BRITAIN'S PERMISSION TO SECEDE . NORTHERN RHODESIA'S AFRICAN-DOMINATED ASSEMBLY LAST WEEK 
VOTED, 21 TO 14, TO DEMAND IMMEDIATE SECESSION . EVEN WHITERULED 
SOUTHERN RHODESIA WAS NOW CALLING FOR " A CLEAN BREAK . 
" OR, AS THE NEW PRIME MINISTER, WINSTON FIELD, PUT IT 
AT THE OPENING SESSION OF PARLIAMENT IN SALISBURY, " THE QUESTION 
OF SOUTHERN RHODESIAN SECESSION WILL NOT ARISE . WE SHALL HAVE 
BEEN SECEDED FROM . " BRITAIN'S DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER R . 
A . ( " RAB " ) BUTLER HAD JUST SPENT 
TWO WEEKS IN THE RHODESIAS, AND CONCLUDED THAT A BREAKUP OF 
THE TEN-YEAR-OLD FEDERATION WAS INEVITABLE . SOMETIME IN THE COMING SPRING, 
BUTLER IS EXPECTED TO CALL A CONFERENCE IN LONDON TO OVERHAUL 
THE CONSTITU TION OF NORTHERN RHODESIA, AND GIVE THE REGION THE 
RIGHT TO SECEDE ; HE ALSO HOPED THAT HE MIGHT SALVAGE 
FROM THE FEDERATION'S WRECKAGE SOME KIND OF ECONOMIC LINK BETWEEN THE 
TWO RHODESIAS . FIELD'S AIM IS TO WIN INDEPENDENCE FOR SOUTHERN 
RHODESIA BEFORE BRITAIN HAS A CHANCE TO DRAFT A NEW CONSTITUTION 
THAT WOULD ASSURE SOUTHERN RHODESIA'S 3,616,000 BLACK OF MAJORITY RULE OVER 
THE 221,000 WHITES . FIELD WANTS NO SQUAWKS FROM NATIVE AGITATORS 
WHILE HE TRIES TO BRING OFF HIS PLAN . THIS MONTH 
HIS POLICE ARRESTED AFRICAN NATIONALIST LEADER JOSHUA NKOMO AND SEVEN OTHER 
FORMER LEADERS OF THE BANNED ZIMBABWE AFRICAN PEOPLE'S UNION FOR TAKING 
PART IN AN " ILLEGAL PROCESSION " AND " OBSTRUCTING POLICE 
" AT A PROTEST RALLY, CHARGES THAT COULD MEAN UP TO 
TEN YEARS IN PRISON . WITH THAT, FIELD LAST WEEK SENT 
PARLIAMENT A SPATE OF PROPOSALS THAT WOULD GIVE POLICE BROAD NEW 
SEARCH AND ARREST POWERS, PERMIT THE WHIPPING OF PRISONERS (UP TO 
A MAXIMUM OF TEN LASHES), AND MAKE HANGING MANDATORY FOR ANYONE 
CONVICTED OF ARSON OR THE USE OF EXPLOSIVES . 