NO ILLUSION.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 41, 18 February 1927, Page 7

NO ILLUSION.

BRITAIN AND SOVIET.

Hidden Difficulties Prevent

Expulsion.

SIGNIFICANT SPEECH.

<By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright)

LONDON, February 17

In the course of a speech yesterday the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. "Winston Churchill, indicated that the Government has no present intention of closing down the Soviet Embassy in London.

The Minister said the Government was not labouring under any illusion about Russia. "It is sometimes asked." he said, "what is the Government afraid of?

"Nothing could be less alarming from the Government's -point of view than the gesture of sweeping out Russian representation. It would in no way involve any test of physical or moral courage. It would give immense satisfaction throughout the country.

"If we do not take this course, how- j ever, you must credit us with having; carefully considered ail the aspects of the matter, with no other object in view than the preservation of the country's interests and the peace of the world. We are not ignorant of Russia's provocation, but there are other considerations which at present cannot be swept aside as if they were of no value." SENSATION IN RUSSIA. BRITISH PLOTS AND PLOTTERS. LONDON, February 17. The Moscow correspondent of the British United Press Association says a sensation has been caused there by" the publication in the newspapers "Pravda" and "Izvestia" of certain documents. These purport to show that the British Home Secretary, Sir W. Joyn-son-Hicks, and other -prominent men in Britain are in league against the Soviet, notably M. Sablin, ex-Ambassador to France under the Czar's regime and now resident in Britain, and M. Girs, who was a diplomat under the Czar and is now resident in Paris. The "Izvestia" represents that these Czarist diplomats are acting as agents and accomplices of the British "diehards."

The "Pravda" asserts that certain groups of people in Britain are plotting against the Soviet. It enumerates individuals and organisations, including British bankers and even heads of the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches. This so-called exposure purports to reveal secret springs of anti-Soviet work in Britain. The two Russian papers assert that Mr. Winston Churchill and the Earl of Birkenhead support a group of people who arc trying to break up the relations between Britain and Russia. It is even alleged that an appeal has been made for money to Russian Royalists for a campaign to clear out "the Reds. Both the "Pravda" and the "Tzvestia" are reported to have published photographs of documents to prove their assertion?.,