Selection: Michalis Katsigeras

IMPRESSION OF A COLONIZED COUNTRY: From a Kathimerini survey of government ministers’ intentions for 1953, the response by Public Works Minister Constantine Karamanlis: Mr Karamanlis believes that the most important problems in his ministry are the proper organization of the State’s technical services under a single department in the Public Works Ministry, with teams assigned to other ministries, and the immediate drafting of a program to be executed according to the availability of existing funds. “Greece presents an image of a backward and colonized country, particularly because it lacks a unified and well-organized technical service capable of developing productive areas of the country,” said Karamanlis. “Therefore only when a technical service is set up will it be possible for projects to be carried out that are of vital importance for the national economy.” PLOUMBIDIS: The interior minister, Mr Pafsanias Lykourezos, has confirmed reports published yesterday of the deteriorating health of the communist prisoner Nikos Ploumbidis. The minister added that the leading Communist, who is a patient in the prison sanatorium, is being given all possible medical care and that apart from his regular doctors, he is also being attended by Professor Economopoulos, an expert in tuberculosis.