BRITISH ELECTION

Gisborne Times, Volume LXI, Issue 9848, 29 October 1924, Page 5

BRITISH ELECTION

LLOYD’S INSURANCE INDEX. MR. BALDWIN OPTIMISTIC. ‘ ‘EVERYTH'iNO LOOKS HEALTH 10" United Pieas Association —Copyright LONDON, Get. io. On the evo of the emcuuu jj.oyU's insurance rates lose suarpiy u> 10 guineas per cent, against a eiear Conservative majority unit live guineas per cent, against a eiear Laoor majority.

T'ho results of 224 constituencies will bo declared on wednesuay n gut. ut these IoU aie English boroughs. Those results will be suiiicieut to give a lair indication ol tlie dual rosuit.

Mr Baldwin, touring m 2orltslnre and Lancashire, had a tremendous reception at iiotheinam, where a thousand met tno train. Mr Baldwin refused to prophesy, but said: “Everything looks healthy.” 'to-day no speuits at Manchester, Oldham, Bury, ballord and Boiton.

Hie Eoreign Office repeats its conviction that the Zmovicii letter is not a forgery. Tho Daily Telegraph’s Parliamentary correspondent says: “Polit cal circles consider the attempt to label the letter as a forgery is mere!/ a bluff. Meanwhile the Labor Socialists are seriously disturbed, fearing tiie effects of the exposure upon the polls.” Mr MacDonald’s speech at Cardiff supplied texts lor speeches by all tlio party leaders on Monday night. Mr Clynos', at Manchester, claimed that the' latest revelations show that the Zinovieff affair is a desperate and disgraceful plot against the Labor Government. ‘‘Those who talk of the tainted hands of the Russian representatives,” he said, “are showing the British public that Russian hands may he cleaner than theirs. It is a dangerous thing for our enemies to stoop to methods which may embroil us with other nations.”

Mr Austen Chamberlain, at Birmingham, said, “Before the Prime Minister authorised the despatch of tlie Note to the Soviet, ho must have satisfied himself that the Zinovieff letter was not a forgery. Yet, apparently, every other member ol Calnnet is wholly in the dark. Why was the information withheld? The Prime Minister is not an autocrat. The gravest feature of the present political situation is that, belimd the responsible ministers, there is a junta of back bench extremists who call the- Ministers to account and up set their policy.” Mr Asquith, at Paisley, said that if Mr 'MacDonald believed the Z.novioff letter genuine, “he has had in his pocket during most. oi the election period the most, convincing proof that the Soviet Government intended to break the most solemn provision of a treaty. It is incred.ble that such a menacing document was not circulated among Cabinet members before it was given to the world.” Mr MacDonald, hi a later speech in Ids own constituency, said: “I knocked the draft reply to Rakovsky into smithereens and wrote something with my own hand which I wanted to sco again. Therefore, I did not initial it. Instead of senditip me a fair copy for signature, the Foreign Office issued it themselves.” —A. and N.Z. C.A

SENSATION ON CONTINENT. HER RIOT URGED TO PAUSE. LONDON, Oct. 27. The Daily Herald insists that the Zinovieff’s inter is an obvious forgery. The Herald’s Parliamentary correspondent points out that Foreign Office experts were similarly deceived in 1921, resulting in Lord Curzon’s famous Note to Russia, dated Sept. 7, which afterwards was discovered to be founded on forged documents supplied by German private detectives. The correspondent suggests that the Zinovieff letter is probably the work of Russian counter-revolutionaries, obtained in Russia by the British Secret Service.

Reports from many areas throughout the country suggest that Laborites who abhor revolution and supported the Government’s attitude towards Russia on economic grounds are profoundly disturbed over the ZinoviefF revelations.

The publication of Zinovieff’s letter caused a sensation in Italy. Officials regard the Communist agitation in Britain, coinciding with increased activity in Italy and elsewhere in Europe, as symptoms of Moscow’s organised renewed attack on civilisation. Italian Bolsheviks recently received largo funds, enabling a renewal of the propaganda which was dropped after Mussolini attained power. PARTS, Oct. 27.

In view of tho- expected French recognition of. the Soviet, the press is devoting great space to the Zinovietf incident, suggesting it should give M. Harriot occasion to pause. RIGA, Oct. 27.

In connection with the celebration of the anniversary of the Communist outbreak at Hamburg last year, ZinoviefF declared a proletarian revolution was approaching in Germany, despite all the Dawes and Ebert’s Notes. The Hamburg rising was a Communist dress rehearsal.

THE MOSCOW MYSTERY

LLOYD GEORGE CANNOT ACCEPT DENTAL.

LONDON, Oct. 27

Mr Lloyd George, in a speech at Camberwell in support of M'r MacNainara, said that the Moscow mystery cast a sinister light on the Government’s refusal to allow an inquiry into tho Campbell case. The Foreign Office, of which Mr MacDonald was Minister, said that the ZinoviefF document was genuine, ‘but all Mr MacE'onnld’s Ministers said it was a forgery. He did not know why they said that before they made inquiries. It looked to him as though tlie document had been withheld from members of the Cabinet. He would have accepted the Soviet denial hut for tho fact that when he was Premier tho Soviet denied a similar. transaction when he had positive proof thereof. This was when Kameneff denied that he was propagating a revolution in England at the moment when ho (Mr Lloyd George) had liis telegram to Moscow, stating that lie had disposed of the Russian jewels, and was giving the Daily Herald £75,000. Therefore lie (Mr 'Lloyd George) could not accept Moscow’s denial as ho would have accepted a denial by any other country.—Reuter

“GROSS FALSIFICATION.”

SO SAYS ZINOVIEFF LONDON, Oct. 27. ZinoviefF sent a message to the Trades Union Congress, declaring that the letter alleged to be signed by him is a gross falsification. There was not and could not be such a letter, he stated. He denounces it as clearly an election manoeuvre, and invites the Trade "0 nion Congress to appoint a commission to visit Russia to investigate its authenticity. Notwithstanding Communist ccnials, the Foreign Office is entirely satisfied with the genuineness of the ZinoviefF letter. • Rakovsky sent a letter to Die Foreign Office, protesting that his embassy had not been notified prior to publication, declaring that the letter was obviously a forgery, and should have been clear to Foreign Office officials. ■ vAA&ii Conservative headquarters to-day ; state that they are convinced tnn.t the ZinoviefF correspondence wdl-

rally many waverers to the Conservative side.

Liberal headquarters arc of opinion that there is grave peril of reaction after such an exposure, and that only 'Liberalism can save the nation. MOSCOW, Oct. 27.

The Soviet’s reply to the British Note characterises the alleged Zinovieff letter as an impudent forgery, aiming at the destruction of the Anjglo-Soviet relations, which were -happily beginning to improve. )n view of the use of forgery in an cifieial document the Soviet Government insists on an adequate apology and the punishment of both private and official persons. * It concludes: “Fully apprecuiciug the serious consequences the forgery might have on both countries the Soviet urgently and decidedly offers to recognise an impartial arbitral; in court to establish the fact that the letter is a forgery.” The Note opens by adhering to li e repeated declarations regarding the non-responsibility of the Soviet Government for the acts of the 'Communist International, and at present abstains from touching upon the form and tone of the Foreign Office Note. Rakowsky to-day transmitted to the Foreign Office the Soviet reply with reference to the statements that the Zinovieff letter was known lu Mr MacDonald and Mr Henderson nearly three weeks prior to its publication. Mr Henderson to-day declared no such document had been received by the Home Office or Scotland Yard or by Mr Henderson personally from any quarter. His firs: information of the existence o' ihe document was through the col—m is of the newspaper on October 2b.

A MARE’S NEST

WHAT MACDONALD HOLDS

BUT DOCUMENTS ARE ’ AUTHF.N-

TIC,

BONBON, Oct. 2

Mr MacDonald, in a speech, said he believes the Zinovieff documents are authentic.

Mr MacDonald, speaking at Caicliff said: “The election started with a mare’s nest, the Workers' Weekly case, and is likely to finfsn with a mare’s nest, the great Russia:; Red p.ot. The assertion- that when the Government refused an inauiry into the Workers’ Weekly ease, it Pad in-f-jimation of Communist aciiv ty in Britain far more serious than the H< use of Commons and country were a -owed to k; <_-w, is a malicious untruth. The facts are that the Government was defeated on Oct Her 8. This Red plot letter did not find its way to the Foreign Office until Oct. GO It was not put into the L-cpart-nent till October If, and was sent tj me at M ,ii idles ter on Octoier Id 1 itceived it on the 16th. 1 minuted that the greatest care must be taken in discovering whether it was authentic; if so it must be published immediately. In the meantime, while other investigations were proceeding to discover its 'authenticity, a draft letter to Rakovsky was prepared, so that when and if authenticity was established no time should be lost in protesting to the Soviet Government. My minute was received by the department on October 17. A trial draft was scut to me on October 21 at Aberavon for observations. 1 was absent in my son’s constituency, and did not receive it until October 23. J altered the draft on October 24, and sent it back in altered form, expecting it to be returned to me with the proofs of authenticity, but it was published that night. (Cries of Shame.) I make no complaints about tlio Foreign Office, and, everyone of my colleagues knows that I will not tolerate this*propaganda.” Thirteen Ministers at present express their ignorance of Zinovieff’s letter.

I AM INNOCENT.”

PREMIER TO PROBE MATTER

LONDON, Oct, 28

The Prime Minister described as lies the wonderful stories published in the newspapers with regard to the progress of the document through the Post Office to the Foreign Office. He said that it was an cleventli-hour attempt to entangle the Government and get the election fight ova - with a cloud of suspicion hanging over the country.

Hr 'MacDonald said in conclusion

“I am the most innocent man of the lot of you. I was out of London anti I had to get information which is still coining in, because I am going to probe this thing to the roots. It will he my first job when £ return to London to discover how this thing originated and who is behind it. and yen will get the whole story..” He wanted to know how a certain London newspaper which prided on having forced the Government’s hands came to have .a copy of the letter and said : “How did Conservative headquarters, which for days had been talking cf springing a mine under the Government’s feet, become possessed of the letter 1 know tho letter may have originated anywhere. How can I, a simple honest-minded, person, avoid the suspicion l that the whole thing is another gunpowder plot? The matter is in no wise finished with and until it is finished the best thing is to leave it with the Government.” LONDON. Oct, 23.

With reference to Air. MacDonald’s speech at Cardiff, Conservative headquarters promptly issued a statement that it only learned of the existence of the ZinoviefF letter when the Foreign Office published it. —A. and N.Z. Cable Assn.

“WHAT IS THE ACCUSATION

AGAINST US?”

GOVERNMENT WILL STAND NO NONSENSE.

(Received Get, 28. 8.5 p.m. LONDON, Oct. 28

“On account of my known determination to stand firmly by Ahe agreement and treaty as though they were Holy Writ when- my signature vas attached/- said Mr MacDonald, “they assumed they were carrying out my wishes in taking steps immediately io publish the whole affair They honestly believed the document authentic, and acted in that belief. If they acted precipitately, what is the accusation against us? Why do not the newspapers say we are in too great a haste? If'the Foreign Office had been in the hands of either the Tories or the Liberals that letter would have taken weeks to get through the various sieves. Rapidity of action and a business-like way of handling and the Government s dcteimunition to stand no nonsense are conspicuous examples of .the new way of conducting foreign affairs. It the ZinoviefF letter is a forgery it shows the amount of scoundrehiiess that surrounds us. My experience made it impossible for me not to be suspicious if it were genuine. Depend unon it, so long as there is a labor Government and I am responsible for it, <1 will handle with determination every attempt by . an outside Power to interfere in our internal affairs.•—Reuter.