The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 1928.

Hokitika Guardian, 27 March 1928, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 1928.

AN ELUSIVE LETTER. Tim British Labour Party lias no renY sou to congratulate itself, considers the Auckland Star, on its decision to resurrect the Zinovieff letter again. For not only was the Labour proposal for a further inquiry into the circuin- : stances of the publication rejected by a g large majority hut the Prime Minister Jj- gave a complete and crushing reply to * all the charges that Mr Ramsay Mac--11 Donald formulated and the insinuations in which he has indulged. Some i weeks ago, Mr MacDonald., in an nd|j dress to the Labour Prty on this ques- | tion, showed clearly that he had lost all confidence in his ability to prove B the Zinovieff letter a forgery. Mr Baldi win was able to inform the House that the Russian Foreign Minister Tehit--3 cherin and his colleague Zinovieff had , both admitted that it was genuine, and ii complained bitterly of the treachery of I those responsible for its disclosure. Ac- | cording to the same authority, the original had been destroyed to prevent I the detection ol the Soviet Govcrn- | ment's complicity. But in any case ii Mr MacDonald’s indictment of the ! Conservatives for using official docuj ments for party purposes could not j possibly succeed. For tiie letter U'ilK I ! not an official communication to the j Foreign Office, but a private message | to a British Communist, and nnv loyal | and patriotic citizen was justified in | publishing it to expose this treacherous attack upon the rights and liberties of his country. Mr Baldwin proved to the satisfaction of the Commons that neither the Foreign Office nor the Government was responsible for the appearance of the letter in the “Daily 1 Mail.” Before Mr Baldwin had finish- ' ea his speech, Mr MacDonald must 1 have known that his attempt to discredit the Government had completely ] failed. But there was a worse humiliation in store for him. The Attorney- -[ General asked Mr MacDonald two . pointed questions: "Whether, as For- • eign Minister, he would have published the Zinovieff letter before the last elections, if the “Daily Moil” had a not anticipated him. and whether he t still believed the letter to be a for* h gerv. Mr MacDonald’s answers were P weak and evasive in the extreme, and, as Sir Douglas Hogg put it", the House v could draw its own conclusions. Per- a haps the worst weakness of the Leader j, of the Labour Party is his lack of mor- p al courage—a defect- which enabled the Communists to go so far unchecked V in their attempts to utilise the Labour r < organisations for their own ends; and pi

it was his own indecisive, inconsistent and irresolute policy in regard to the Zinovieff letter and- to Russia that did more than anything else to ensure the defeat of Labour at the last election.