NORMAL MEASURES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 April 1939, Page 7

NORMAL MEASURES

EMERGENCY NOT SUGGESTED. EXPLANATION OF EMBARGO. By Telegraph-Press Association— Copyright. ' LONDON, April' 5. The Australian Associated Press understands that the Prime Minister’s Department’s request to withhold Lord Stanhope’s speech last night was due to an erroneous version stating that partial mobilisation of the fleet- had been mentioned. The correct report, was, however, cabled by the Associated Press, which regarded it as an unvarnished statement of naval routine and in no way suggesting an emergency. The fact that several -papers made a mystery story out of the cancellation of the speech, coupled with the satirical comments from Berlin, caused the Associated Press to feel that the embargo on the publication of the speech was no longer justified. Mr Chamberlain, in a short statement at question time in the House of Commons today, hopes to terminate the flurry. The “News Chronicle” justifies its publication of the speech as follows: "As Lord Stanhope’s remarkable statement was broadcast to the Empire at £.30 p.m. and 4.4 a.m. and published in the early editions of several other newspapers, there was no further reason for withholding it.” The paper adds that lobby conversations on the speech became so intense during the evening that a full report was sent to Mr Chamberlain at Downing Street. It is understood that Mr Chamberlain deeply deplored the remarks and that Lord Stanhope’s future in the Cabinet is in question. The “Daily Sketch" reports Lord Stanhope as saying that the statement could be explained by the fact that the fleet was “taking precautions and the fleet is always ready.” It was made entirely clear that Lord Stanhope was referring to normal measures and general precautions and that his statement did not mean that an attack on Britain was expected. Admiralty officials pointed out that the fleet is on leave, and that they have no knowledge of any special emergency. Lord Stanhope also personally requested a British Press Association reporter at the beginning of his speech to publish his remarks. He later sent Captain Lord Louis Mountbatten to tell the reporters that his speech was for publication. SARCASTIC COMMENT. OBSERVATIONS BY GERMAN PAPER. BERLIN, April 5. The newspaper “B.Z. am Mittag” says: "Did Lord Stanhope mean that the Martians were marching on Europe? The tendency toward delusive

imagination which has been growing in Britain lately is everywhere taking a wider form. "Now that the First Lord of the Admiralty has fallen a victim to this tendency, British panic-mongering is seen to be working like a boomerang.”