A SECRET OUT

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 15 December 1924, Page 5

A SECRET OUT

MACDONALD ACCUSED,

OF SHARP PRACTICE. BALDWIN’S REVELATIONS. Three matters which contributed largely to the downfall of Mr Ramsay MacDonald were: (1) The Zinovieff letter, in which it was stated that instructions had been given to Communist headquarters to persuade soldiers to be disloyal; (2) the Campbell case, when the then Premier was accused of stopping proceedings against the editor of the Workers’ Weekly; and (3) -a suggestion that Mr MacDonald had accepted £30,000 worth of shares in McVities, as a present from a director who had received knighthood. It would appear from the following cable message that at least one of the three accusations has been substantiated.

BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION-COPYRIGHT

(Received Dec. 15, 10.50 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 14

Discrepancies in Mr MacDonald’s explanations as to MeVities’ shares and the Campbell case have been again brought into prominence, following on Mr Baldwin’s discovery of departmental instructions to Sir Patrick Hastings (formerly Attorney-General) not to proceed with political prosecutions without the sanction of Mr MacDonald’s Cabinet, whereas Mr MacDonald, on October 8, emphatically denied that such an instruction had been given.

The Evening. News says that the Socialists are flabergasted, and a few more similar incidents will make Mr MacDonald’s leadership precarious. The Standard scathingly refers to the conduct of people whose professional administration of positions implied the essential habit of accuracy.