LORDS' ENQUIRY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 43, 20 February 1914, Page 7

LORDS' ENQUIRY

MARCONI SHARES LORD MURRAY OF ELIBANK MEETING OF UNIONIST PEERS. (By Telegraph.— Press Association.— Copyright.) LONDON. 19th February. Mr. Bonar Law (Leader of the Opposition) and Lord Robert Cecil, M.P., attended the Opposition Peers' meeting. Lord Lansdowne subsequently gave notice of motion in the House of Lords similar in terms to Lord Ampthill's motion for the setting up of a Select Committee of Enquiry regarding Lord Murray of Elibank s transactions in American Marconi shares while he was Chief Liberal Whip. Unionist papers predict that the Govern* ment will boycott a committee of enquiry if one is appointed. "DISCREDITABLE GAMBLE." HOUSE OF COMMONS INVESTIGATION. CRITICISM BY LORD LANSDOWNE (Received February 20, 10 a.m.) LONDON. 19th February. Lord Lansdowne, speaking in the House of Lords, said there had never been a more discreditable gamble on the Stock Exchange than that connected with the American Marconi shades, and no tribunal could have been more unsuitable for investigation of the scandal than th« recent House of Commons Committee. The House of Lords Committee would be small, and would include the Judicial Lords\ It should investigate the matter of the investment of £21,000 of the Liberal Party's funds in railway stock while the ' Government was seeking to terminate the coal strike. More light was also desirable regarding £70,000 subscribed to the party funds at Coronation time. The Marquis of Crewe, Secretary of State for India, said the Government was not convinced that a committee would serve a useful purpose. He had no objection to the , motion, but was not prepared to take the responsibility of appointing the committee. The motion was agreed to without division.