Selection: Michalis Katsigeras

GOVERNMENT INSTABILITY: Since the evening of the day before yesterday there has been great confusion and upheaval among government officials due to a statement by Liberal parliamentary deputy D. Manentis that he is to resign his seat. As a result, the government of Nikolaos Plastiras and Sophocles Venizelos, bereft of support, is now facing a stalemate. The two parties in the governing coalition received their mandate to form a government on the basis of their absolute majority in Parliament, which was over 130 seats. Now they only have 129 seats, exactly half the number of deputies, which according to parliamentary practice, requires that the government submit its resignation. The two independent deputies who belong to the United Democratic Left (EDA), Messrs Kyrkos and Karamaounas, as well as the Farmers’ Party deputy Mr Baltatzis, should not be included in the governing faction, for although they voted for the government in the last parliamentary vote, they do not belong to the two coalition parties, EPEK and the Liberals. HERMES PRAXITELOUS: The sculptor A. Panayiotakis has returned from Olympia where he had undertaken, by order of the Archaeological Council, to erect a new foundation for the statue of Hermes Praxitelous. Mr Panayiotakis, assisted by the sculptor Mr D. Dimitriadis, managed to remove the ugly iron frame supporting the statue’s back.