MINISTER OF WORKS DENIES ANONYMOUS ACCUSATIONS

Grey River Argus, 17 December 1948, Page 5

MINISTER OF WORKS DENIES ANONYMOUS ACCUSATIONS

British Board of Trade Inquiry Ends Evidence LONDON, December 15. At the inquiry as to allegations of corruption to Government officials in connection with the Board of Trade, the chairman, Mr Justice Lynskey, said to-day that he had received a number of anonymous letters charging that the Minister of Works, Mr Charles Key, had, in return for nospitality, given special consideration to a Captain Shiner. Mr Justice Lynskey said the letters had made accusations against Ministers of the Crown, and that was why they had been investigated.

Mr Justice Lynskey told Mr Key, who was in the witness box: “in these letters it was allaged that you and other Ministers were in the habit of staying regularly with Captain Shiner of the company known as Intrade Limited, and that he (Shiner) had been seen by a newspaper reporter to whom he boasted that be could obtain any materials he desired”.

Sir Hartley Shawcross said he thought the letters came from a journalist. The letters had bden found to be largely inaccurate. Mr Key admitted that he was “a very close personal friend” of Shiner, but denied he had shown him any special consideration. Sir Hartley Shawcross suggested that Mr Key’s association with Shiner “gave the necessary kick or impetus” to any matters concerning Intrade Limited.

Mr Key replied: “No more kick than any other letter which came into the office”. Sir Hartley Shawcross: “I devoted a little ‘midnight oil’ to reading 30 of your Ministry of Works files—from cover to cover, in some cases. The fact is that you did intervene in certain of the Intrade Company’s applications?” Mr Key: “It is not so”. Handing a file to Mr Key, Sir Hartley Shawcross said: “That’s an instance of a case where a personal letter dealt with in your office has resulted in a matter being treated as one of great urgency and entitled, perhaps, to most favourable consideration”.

Mr Key said he did not think that was a fair interpretation. A large number of cases which had oeen treated urgently could be found where no personal letter was sent to the Minister.

Mr Key said he knew letters to him from Shiner had arrived addressed, “My dear Charles”, but these letters were never brought to him and went through the office in the ordinary way. At one point Mr Key protested to the Attorney-General: “It is a strange attitude if a Minister cannot do for people who have been his friends for 20 years things he would normally do for anybody else”. Mr Key denied he ever had received monetary payments fiom Shiner in connection with the granting of licences or in any other connection. THE CAPTAIN’S EVIDENCE' Gordon Lloyd Owen Shiner, manager of Intrade Limited, civil engineers, shipbuilders and bargebuilders, said he had been on friendly terms with Mr Key and his family for 20 years. Neither he nor his company had given money to Mr Key. The only present they had given him was a silver salver at a public presentation. Cross-examining Shiner, the 57th witness, Sir Hartley Shawcross said: “It has been reported in the newspapers that you have said in an interview you were able to approach Ministers ’ and cut through the red tape and get things done’”. Shiner: '“lt is a deliberate lie”. Asked whether he had ever made such a remark to reporters, Shiner replied: “That man is a deliberate liar”. Shiner denied that he had ever sought to influence Ministers improperly. He also denied suggestions made in the anonymous letters that he gave fur coats to Ministers’ w ves. A CHEAP WIRELESS SET Shiner said he gave a wireless set worth £l3 to Mrs Key because “she wanted one like my daughter’s”, and as Mrs Key’s birthday “fell on the same day as my daughter’s”. Shiner said he believed the letters had been inspired by a personal enemy. STANLEY’S FORMER NAMES Ernest George Warner, officer in charge of the deportation group of the Aliens Office, said that on June 1, 1933, orders were made against Marcus Wulkan and Solomon Koshyzckys, alias Rectand, and known as Sid Wulkan. The police were unable to effect service of the order because they were unable to apprehend Sid Wulkan. However, he recently appeared in the name of Sidney Stanley, and was arrested in September. • Warner added that Marcus Wulkan left for America and the order in his case was recently revoked. Warner said he had seen Stanley scores of times during the past few years, and from 1940 he knew exactly where he was at all times. The evidence has been concluded, and counsel will now address the Tribunal.