WAR OFFICE SCANDAL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2970, 6 January 1917, Page 7

WAR OFFICE SCANDAL

A BRIGADIER'S POSITION SUSPICION OF SINISTER INFLUENCE London, January 4. Besides the Barrett case, the Court also inquired into the question' of the retirement of Brigadier-General Owen Thomas, whose valuable work in connection with recruiting in Wales theCourt considered should ho publicly acknowledged. Tho Court declared that General Thomas's allegation that ho had been removed from his command in order to meet Mrs. CornwallisWest's wishes was "quite unfounded, but General Thomas had good reason for thinking that his military reputation had been disparaged by Mrs. Cornwallis-West's intervention. The Court regretted that a lottcr sent by Lord French to tho War Office regarding an adverse report upon General Owen Thomas was so ambiguously worded as-to be capable of misconstruction. It was also unfortunate that Lord French concurred in tho War Office letter to General Owen Thomas, which must have confirmed General Thomas's suspicion'of sinister influence. -yA.ais.-N.Z. Cable Assn. UNDUE PUBLICITY WELL-KNOWN PEOPLE INVOLVED London, January 4. The nowspapers are devoting many columns to tho War Office scandal—far beyond its intrinsic merits—because so many well-known people are implicated through Mrs. Cornwallis-West's connec-tions.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable. Assn.