A Thriller in Secret Diplomacy

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 125, 17 August 1927, Page 1

A Thriller in Secret Diplomacy

SPEECH ON SINGAPORE MR. HOWARD’S REVELATIONS (TBR SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. An attempt to get to the wind- • ward of the Leader of the Opposition was the way in which Mr. E. J. Howard, member for Christchurch South, described the introduct'on of the Singapore Base ques* : on by Mr. T. M. Wilford into the Budget debate. Replying to Mr. Wilford’s speech this evening, Mr. Howard said that he had given notice to Mr. Wilford of his intention, but Mr. Wilford laughed .and retorted that he had been 25 years in the House and Mr. Howard could say what he liked. Mr. Wilford was not present at any time during Mr. Howard’s reply. CRUISER-BUILDING Mr. Howard said that the Government had promised that a special evening should be given for the discussion of the Singapore question, and he could see no reason for Mr. Wilford’s introduction of it into the Budget debate, other than that it was an attempt to get to the windward of he Leader of the Opposition, who was absent from the House. Mr. Howard produced “Brassey’s Naval and Shipping Annual” to aid him in refuting Mr. Wilford’s statement that Japan was building cruisers at a rapid rate. “Brassey’s” stated that there was a widespread impression that a large number of cruisers was being built, but such views sprang from complete misconception. There was no foundation for the belief that the contest in capital ships was replaced by a contest in cruiser- building. The conclusions were that, instead of hastening to build cruisers, Japan was slackening off and studying economy in building warships. Mr. Wilford had spoken of six secret clauses in Japan’s famous Twenty-one Demands to China in 1916. He had said that they had never been published before. “There is a thriller,” said Mr. Howard. “Gee, I thought, I am in the inner circle; I am getting international secrets, but unfortunately I had a memory, and as the hon. member read those clauses I thought I had heard them somewhere before. I dug in the library and found a book published in 1917, in which I found the whole of the 21 demands. ELEVEN YEARS OLD Mr. J. A. Lee: The secret was 11 years old then. Mr. Howard: About that. Then I turned to another page and found it word for word as the hon. gentleman said it the other day. We were never told the hon. gentleman was quoting from a book. I thought he was speaking with authority; so he was—someone else’s authority. Mr. J. A. Lee: Like some of his war lectures. Mr. Howard went on to say that had Labour put forward such a story as that with which Mr. Wilford had taken in the House and country they would have been laughed out of Parliament. When the debate on the Singapore question was taken he would have something further to say on the subject. ______