TO SIFT ZINOVIEFF AFFAIR

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 296, 6 March 1928, Page 1

TO SIFT ZINOVIEFF AFFAIR

Questions In Commons TRAFFICKED SECRET DOCUMENTS? By Cable.—Press Association. — Copyright. Received 10.15 a m. LONDON, Monday. IN the House of Commons to-day notices were given of questions regarding the Zinovieff letter. They include:— (1) Whether the allegations in Mr. Thomas Marlowe’s letter call for an inquiry on oath. (2) Whether there will be an inquiry into how a secret and confidential document came to be circulated among various departments. (3) AV hetlier a civil or a naval servant communicated it to the Press. (4) Whether any record shows that it was decided to circulate the letter among the departments.—A. and N.Z.

A letter from Mr. Thomas Marlowe, formerly editor of the “I>aily Mail,” was published in the “Observer” last week. This was to the effect that he had two copies of the Zinovieff letter in his possession on October 24, 1924. both from friends. He circulated reprints to other newspapers, with an intimation that their authenticity could be established at the Foreign Office and elsewhere. He adds: “t have never seen Mr. W. D. Gregory, Rid I did not pay him or any other person £5,000, or any sum, for the letter. It

did not cost me a single penny.” The writer thinks that if Mr. MacDonald had taken the public into his confidence the letter would have done him little, if any, harm. He adds: “Mr. MacDonald, instead of blaming himself, continued unjustly to suspect Mr. Gregory of treacherously springing a mine under his feet. It is now clear he was not responsible.” Mr. W. D. Gregory, formerly an Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, was dismissed for complicity in currency gambling transactions.