Wizard at Work

When Cuba's President Carlos Prio Socarras decided to scrap Havana's rattletrap trolleys in favor of buses, he thought he knew just the man for the job: tall, tough Millionaire William D. Pawley, 53. Boss of Miami's bus system, Pawley had organized Cuba's first commercial airline and built most of its airfields. Many Cubans regard him as a combination financial wizard and philanthropist.

Triangular Trade. After some man-to-man bargaining, Pri offered Pawley the concession if he would pay $1,500,000 to the near-bankrupt trolley company's bondholders and get buses rolling in place of the sway-backed trams. But when Pawley went home to line up financial backing, no fewer than eleven U.S. banks, including the Export-Import Bank, turned down the deal.

Disgusted, Bill Pawley turned to dollar-hungry Britain. The British Export Credits Guarantee Department said it would establish a $7,700,000 credit, enabling Pawley's Autobuses Modernos to buy 620 all-steel, 41-passenger buses from England's Leyland Motors, Ltd. The government guarantee would cover 85% of the buses' cost; Pawley would pay 10% when the deal was closed, the balance over a three-year period.

There still remained the delicate operation of putting the deal over in Cuba. Prio, mindful of the violent press campaign which almost wrecked his negotiations for a $100 million First Boston Corp. loan last year, planned to spring this one without advance notice. But last fortnight, before the cabinet was scheduled to act on it, the Cuban press bloc opened up on the Pawley deal.

El Mundo, one of whose principal owners, by an odd coincidence, holds the exclusive Cuban distribution rights for

General Motors Coach buses, led the attack. "Behind this deal," shrilled El Mundo, "is a rapacious promoter internationally known for his misdeeds and crooked deals, a buzzard who presents himself to us disguised as the Holy Ghost, a speculator in shady business, a knave with hands of silk . . . Pawley came to Havana and said: "I have come to exchange the old streetcars for modern buses to benefit the population.' But what he really intends to do is exchange the goat for the cow."

Two-Way Pressure. While Pawley paced the floor in his $85-a-day Hotel Nacional suite, Prio postponed official announcement of the deal and rallied his forces. Led by the conductors, whom Pawley had promised to keep on the job, the trolley union lined up behind the new plan. Straphangers enthusiastically supported Prio for forcing action to rid Havana of its noisy, run-down trolleys. The influential weekly Bohemia hailed Pawley as "one of the most distinguished figures in the U.S., whose various enter prises, including aviation firms in India and China, make his biography a true teaching in industry and social service."

By last week President Prio felt strong enough to issue his decree. Under its terms, Pawley's Autobuses Modernos will get the trolley firm's franchise for the next 25 years. In about four years' time, when Bill Pawley expects the bus operation to be rolling in high gear, he plans to step out. Meanwhile, he will collect 4% interest on his $3,000,000 capital outlay. He will also he says, "be well paid by the company as president and manager."

But he will have to fight for what he gets. At week's end, Havana's other bus system, Omnibus Aliados, announced that, "thanks to the cooperation of General Motors," arrangements were being completed for the purchase of 300 new G.M.C. de luxe buses.

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