PUBLIC CONFIDENCE ESSENTIAL

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 14858, 21 December 1948, Page 3

PUBLIC CONFIDENCE ESSENTIAL

BASIS OF BRITISH; GOVERNMENT ■ *

Integrity Of Officers Of

Crown

What Tribunal Has Shown

London, Dec. 20,

In London, the Attorney-General, Sir Hartley Shawcross, has been giving his closing address to the tribunal which has been investigating allegations of irregularities affecting ministers or other public servants.

“In no other country of the world,” he declared, “would the Government have insisted on an inquiry so far-reaching in its scope.

Our whole system of government rested on public confidence in the honour and integrity of the officers of the Crown, and the inquiry, so far from undermining that confidence, entitled the public to be reassured.”

About the civil servants named during the inquiry, the AttorneyGeneral submitted that there had not been a shred of real evidence suggesting that they had behaved corruptly or even improperly. About Ministers, he said all members of the Government—over 80 of them—had been exposed to investigation. Yet, after a thorough investigation the tribunal was concerned With the conduct of only two ministers, neither of them in the Cabinet, and one of whom had resigned. Sir Hartley Shawcross will continue his address tomorrow.