PARTIES ON WARSHIPS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 44, 21 August 1939, Page 8

PARTIES ON WARSHIPS

FEAR OF ESPIONAGE

DISCOUNTED OFFICIALLY

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

SYDNEY, August 8. The possibility of foreign agents gaining admission to an Australian naval vessel during entertainments given by officers does not constitute sufficient danger to justify a prohibition of cocktail parties. The Minister of Defence, Mr. Street, made that statement in a letter to Mr. Tom Collins, M.P., who had protested against cocktail parties on warships and had asked that they should be banned. "Warships are frequently available for inspection by the public, and many thousands go on board," wrote Mr. Street. "These people go to parts of the ship where guests at an official reception would never be taken, and I think that a foreign agent with an ulterior motive would board a ship as a member of the general public rather than as the guest of an officer when, at least, he would require to be personally known to his host. "Whenever warships are open to public inspection, admission to compartments containing secret or confidential matter is absolutely forbidden and prevented, and similar equipment in places available for inspection is covered and guarded. The same prohibitions apply at entertainments given by the officers." Mr. Collins is dissatisfied with the answer and intends to pursue the matter further.