From the pages of the South China Morning Post this week in 1973 The government and the stock exchanges rolled out more weapons in the battle to cool down Hong Kong's overheated stock market. The latest three-pronged attack included putting a stop to civil servants playing the market; the exchanges cancelling two more afternoon trading sessions for the week and the Commissioner of Banking calling on all banks to withdraw some of the massive amount of ready cash from the market. But even as the new moves were being made to restore sanity to the market, hundreds of people in Central were scrambling to get in on the new Shun Tak Shipping Company issue. Civil servants were banned from using office telephones to buy or sell shares and were told they were not to leave their desks during office hours to visit brokers' offices or stock exchanges. The four stock exchanges said cancelling trading on Monday and Friday afternoons would allow brokers to clear some of the backlog of paperwork caused by recent hectic trading. The Commissioner of Banking said figures indicated that more than 20 per cent of all bank advances were to market investors and asked the banks to review their loan arrangements and to reduce the volume of credit given to people to buy shares. The Community Chest limited to 15,000 the number of walkers for the Kowloon Walk for Millions after disorder accompanied the Hong Kong walk when more than the expected number of people turned up to do their bit for charity. Experts had planned the Hong Kong route for a maximum of 12,000 walkers and had their hands full when the 15,000 who showed up tried to get out of the So Kon Po Stadium all at once, leading to some walkers being trampled underfoot. The total number of walkers for the Hong Kong event was 17,225 compared to 9,122 the previous year. A father ran amok on Taipa Island and had to be tranquillised after he accidentally ran over and killed his own son. The 26-year-old was at the wheel of his car when he hit a young boy crossing the road. The man rushed to get the child from under the vehicle, only to discover it was his own six-year-old. The Australian journalist Francis James walked across the Lo Wu bridge to freedom after spending more than three years in detention in China. He was expelled by the People's Republic for 'spying'. James was last seen on November 4, 1969, arguing with officials at a railway station on the Chinese side of the border. He disappeared after writing a series of articles in which he claimed to have visited China's Lop Nor nuclear testing ground. The Chinese denied he visited the secret installations in Xinjiang . Officials in Canberra said James was believed to have been charged with 'profiting from lies' as a result of the articles. The newly-elected prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand were meeting to discuss how to stop French nuclear tests in the Pacific. The imminent French tests at Mururoa Atoll were of major importance to both men, who publicly and vigorously condemned them. Gough Whitlam, 56, who had led Australia's Labor Party back to power after a 23-year break, threatened to take France before the International Court of Justice. Norman Kirk, 50, of the New Zealand Labour Party, threatened to send a frigate to the test area with a cabinet minister aboard as a last resort. Also on the agenda was a possible joint agreement to cut Australia and New Zealand's remaining constitutional ties with Britain. The co-operation between the two prime ministers was a far cry from the days of Sir Robert Menzies, the former Australian prime minister who did not even bother to get off a ship that docked in Auckland.