FACTS LEAKED OUT

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 971, 14 May 1930, Page 9

FACTS LEAKED OUT

PAPERS ANTICIPATED GANDHI'S ARREST STATE INQUIRY DEPLORED United P.A.—By Telegraph—Copyright Reed. 10.5 am. LONDON, Tuesday. The Newspaper Proprietors’ Association has forwarded a letter to Mr. Ramsay MacDonald regretting the Government’s use of the Official Secrets Act against newspapers which published the decision to arrest Gandhi and opening an interrogation of the journalist concerned who had engaged in the collection of information by legitimate methods. This was an unjustifiable infraction of the freedom of the Press. The letter urged an amendment to the sections of the act relating to civil affairs. The incident was referred to in the House of Commons, where the Attor-ney-General, Sir William Jowitt said the suggestion that there had been a leakage of information about the impending arrest of Gandhi was not borne out by an inquiry. Three newspapers had given an assurance that the mews had not been received from improper sources. It appeared that the announcement had been reasonably based on an inference drawn from something the | Home Secretary, Mr. J. R. Clynes, had said. Nobody was to blame. “MERE ANTICIPATION" The Prime Minister, Mr. MacDonald said his information showed that there had been no leakage in the proper sense of the word. It was an inference or a construction, but in the circumstances that construction was as bad as it could be and was culpable. Sir Li. Worthingtou-Evans (Conservative) said a journalist had merely made an intelligent anticipation. Sir Kingsley Wood (Conservative) said the affair was a mere storm in a teacup. Sir William Jowitt said it was not a question of the journalist's guilt or innocence. He were merely asked under the Official Secrets Act to reveal the source of his information. Mr. J. Kinley, Labour member for Bootle: Did that take live hours of intense interrogation? There was no reply. GANDHI WELL TREATED R-ecd. Noon. RUGBY, Tuesday. Describing bis written reply to a Parliamentary question on the conditions in which "Gandhi is undergoing detention, the Secretary for India. Captain Wedgwood Benn, states Gandhi is occupying the same quarters as those he had during his imprisonment in 1922. He has necessary furniture in rooms which are provided with electric light and with verandahs and a small garden in front. Gandhi has complete liberty to take what exercise he desires. He sleeps in the open and is not closely confined. He is being supplied with his usual diet and receives an allowance. HUNDRED ARRESTS FOR CHITTAGONG OUTRAGE DELHI, Tuesday. Nearly 100 arrests were made this morning of Congress volunteers at Harrison Road Camp for suspicion of complicity in the Chittagong outrage. Belated accounts are arriving of a clash during the Moslem festival in the district of Assam. It is estimated there were 100 casualties, including three deaths. WOMAN LEADER GANDHI’S SUCCESSOR GIFTED ORATOR Mrs. Sarojini Naidu f who was cabled yesterday as the new leader of the civil disobedience campaign, previously led by Gandhi, has for some time been recognised in Indian circles as Gandhi’s successor in the leadership of organised disobedience to existing British rule. She is a noted orator whose time is passed in addressing Indian gatherings With a view to moulding their opinions in the desired direction. Her opposition to British rule is the more surprising as she herself owes much to Britain. A woman of brilliant intellect and strong personality, she was educated at King's College, London, and Girtou College Cambridge. She has achieved considerable success in literature, her three volumes of poetry written in English having been translated into all the Indian vernaculars, as well as several European languages. Mrs. Naidu was the leader of the Indian National Congress held in Kenya this year to consider the status of Indians resident in Kenya, when the plans and intentions of the present civil disobedience campaign in India were freely discussed. In 1929 Mrs. Naidu conducted a lecture campaign in the United States, winning much American support and considerable funds for the assistance of the “oppressed” people depicted in her moving oratory. After that she toured central Europe, lecturing to most of the nations there. Gandhi's successor is now about 50 years of age, with a plain, strong face and regal figure. Her saris are of the richest silks and she has much handsome ■jewellery. Her husband is a doctor and she lias a very charming cultured daughter, whose lack of health necessitates almost contiguous residence at Davos, in Switzerland.