DOCKYARD DISMISSALS

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 157, 31 March 1937, Page 15

DOCKYARD DISMISSALS

Checking Communism

Recently several men were dismissed from British dockyards. No reasons were given the discharged men, and questions were asked in the House of Commons by members seeking information.

The Admiralty merely issued a statement to the effect that the continued employment of the discharged men was not iu the interests of the Naval Service.

From another source it was learned that Communist literature had been found in the possession of one of the discharged men.

The men denied that they had been engaged in any subversive activities. All were of long service, one a shipwright with more than 20 years to his credit “on the establishment,” which meant that he forfeited bis pension by his dismissal. Montague Smith, writing in the London “Daily Mail” said that there was little doubt that for some months there had been a steady elimination of Communists from the dockyards. In December, 1035, sabotage was discovered in connection wilh the battleship Royal Oak, and the submarine Oberon.

Iu February, 1936, there were further acts of sabotage in the case of two warships at Chatham, the cruiser Cumberland and the destroyer Velox; in April concerning the submarine L 54 at Devonport; also in the early part of last year concerning the destroyer Gritiin, the Repulse at Portsmouth, and submarine II 28 at Weymouth.