SIMPSON CASE—AND SECRECY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 67, 20 March 1937, Page 8

SIMPSON CASE—AND SECRECY.

British people may now expect, as they will certainly hope, that the last has been heard of the Simpson divorce case. The proceedings in the Divorce Court yesterday were in a sense formal—" to clear the file " — but they should serve their undoubted purpose of dissipating a cloud of rumour which has been damaging, and might have continued to be damaging, both to the Monarchy and to the British judicial system. As the AttorneyGeneral was able to reveal, the information given the King's Proctor was itself based on rumour and could not be supported by evidence, but it is comforting to have the assurance that the King's Proctor made independent inquiries into all aspects of the case and could find nothing justifying action to annul the divorce. It is reasonable to suppose that much of the rumour in England concerning the original divorce hearing arose because of the law which severely restricts the publication of reports of such proceedings. The report reprinted in the u Star" yesterday of the proceedings at the Ipswich Assizes was not published anywhere in England, because the law forbade. " The Times'" report, for instance, was confined to a small paragraph. There was, therefore, good reason for the request made yesterday that any application 'be heard in open Court. The argument for full publicity, however, extends beyond the reports of divorce proceedings. It is possible that the main course of events leading to the abdication of Edward VIII. might have been altered if the circumstances at its source had been the subject of responsible comment at an early stage.