Some Evidence Still Secret

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27764, 15 September 1955, Page 11

Some Evidence Still Secret

(Rec. 11 p.m.) CANBERRA. Sept. 14. Much of the evidence heard by the Royal Commission into Espionage was heard in secret and will remain secret. The commission, in its report tabled today said as far as it was aware there had been only one other commission of this nature—in Canada in 1946 after the defection of Igor Gouzenko from the Soviet esoionage service. By courtesy of the Canadian Government, the Australian commission had been allowed to examine the transcript of the whole proceedings. The commission said that the national interest demanded that some evidence be heard in private here. This was done for security reasons, where a witness was engaged in counter-intelligence and it was not desirable to disclose his identity, where there was uncertainty whether the answers to questions put to witnesses would involve security where the relations of Australia with other countries made it desirable that evidence concerning their nationals either should not be published or should be made known to the governments of those countries before publication.