AGE OLD BATTLE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 50, 1 March 1937, Page 8

AGE OLD BATTLE

SAFETY OF THE STATE

RIGHTS OF THE INDIVIDUAL

SECRET SERVICE

(From "The Post's" Special Reporter.) LONDON, January 30. The dismissal of five dockyard workers from Devonport and Sheerness by the Admiralty, acting on the advice of the Secret Service, without giving a reason or allowing an opportunity for denial, aroused the age-old battle in the House of Commons this week—the safety of the State or the rights of the individual: which comes first? ■ The Labour Party moved a vote of censure against the National Government and championed the right of the workmen to have the charges stated 'against them, and to make reply. The vote of censure was defeated, and a reply was made by Sir Samuel Hoare, First Lord of the Admiralty. I-le listed five grave acts of sabotage which have occurred in the last four years. Any one of'them if not detected might have sunk the ship at sea, with all hands' on board. Sir Samuel refused to give any details of the charges against the five men except that their actions might have led to sabotage, mutiny, and disaffection. He did not' say they were caught red-handed. He justified his secrecy on the ground that the evidence leading to dismissal came from secret service agents, of whom nothing could be revealed without weakening the secret service as an instrument for national safety. .•■ "If we had told the men the charges the men would have denied them," said Sir Samuel Hoare. "Hear, hear,", said Mr. Gallacher, the Ciily Communist M.P. "The men," continued Sir Samuel, "would then have said to us: 'Prove youe y . case. Produce: your evidence. Bring the witnesses into court.'" And that, said Sir Samuel, was -just what could "not be done without impairing the efficiency of the intelligence service. THE LABOUR VIEW. Mr. A. Greenwood, moving the vote of censure, said that the Opposition realised; that there must be .the highest standard of rectitude among the employees of H.M. dockyards, and if it were true that any men were guilty of acting against the national interest, were guilty of criminal offences or had stooped to' treason, the f Trade Unions concerned would be as condemnatory of them as the Board of Admiralty. "I want to say, most emphatically," said Mr. Greenwood, "that no responsible trade union in this country will have lot or part in treason." "What has happened in this case," proceeded Mr. Greenwood, "is that the men have net been informed of what they were accused. They have been given no opportunity of defending themselves. The body which the; First Lord said had to inquire into the case did not act in accordance with the principles of natural justice. It heard only one side of the'case. I have the impression that the Lords of the Admiralty are extremely high-handed in their methods of dealing with their employees." The effect on the morale of the dockyards, said Mr, Greenwood, must be of the. gravest kind; but-there was a broader aspect of the problem. , With democracy challenged by dictatorship there was no place in this country for despotism and tyranny. Justice, liberty, and ■ the' right of fair trial should be upheld. RISK OF DISASTER. Sir Samuel Hoare began his r>eply with emphasis on the immense responsibility of securing that the safety of the men at sea should not be imperilled by acts of sabotage in the yards where the fleet is built and repaired. "With ships as complicated as they are," he said, "the risks in naval work afloat are heavy in peace-time because of practice and manoeuvring in close company at night without lights, and in. wartime a mishap might bring untold disaster to the Navy. We know that sailors carry their lives in their own hands. But their lives may be just as much in the hands of the men who build and repair the ships." Sir Samuel said that a new . and formidable problem had confronted, dockyard administration in the last ten or. twelve years. Attempts had been made to spread mutiny among naval ratings, and in the last two years a series of very disturbing incidents had compelled the Government to reinforce their intelligence service in the dockyards. . "In the course of inquiries," he said, "it emerged beyond doubt that there are men in the dockyard service whose action and whose associations forced th"; Government to distrust their loyalty. We should have preferred an inquiry before which a man could state bis case. ■ .■ ■ . "We were confronted with the difficulty that our information was secret and confidential, and was obtained from sources which, while legitimate and reliable, could not in the interests of the security of the State, be disclosed. I know the prejudice against secret service agents' reports and all the other elements of espionage and contraespionage, but I say to the Socialist Farty that if they were the Government of the day they would find it equally essential in the interests of the security of the State to have their sources of information. INQUIRIES OVER LONG TERIOD. "The Government must have their, means of combating the active attacks made on the security of the nation by outside organisations. The present inquiries are the result of activities over ten or twelve years." Sir Samuel disagreed with Mr. Greenwood in his account of the feeling in the dockyards. "The great body of dockyard workers are loyal to the core," he said, "and they resent the action of men such as those whom we are discussing today." With polished, rounded sentences and faultless delivery Sir Stafford Cripps, who recently announced his intention of deserting the ..Labour Party and to link up with the Independent Labour and Communist Parties, discussed the morality and the law of the dismissals. The House, which had been emptying, hastily filled again, and not even those who disliked his arguments a good deal and his powerful presentation of them even more could fail to admire what they disliked. Sir Stafford put a series of questions to the First Lord. "Has any spy trial in camera ever leaked out?" "Did not an ex-Cabinet Minister recently have a chance to defend himself in Hie House?" Then came a dramatic moment. I ask the First Lord whether he himself has interviewed any of his secret police informers?" . There was no answer. Then 1 infer that he has not." Sir Samuel: "You have no right to infer that." "I will ask the country to infer it," was the reply, and the Opposition

r°Mr S Baldwin, the Prime Minister, repealed the First Lord's contention that the Government had no alternative to the action taken. He did not even consider the proposal of. an inquiry in camera, and rejected the suggestion for an arbitrator.