“WHISPERING GALLERY.”

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 13 December 1926, Page 10

“WHISPERING GALLERY.”

PEARSON’S CHEQUE STOPPED. .1 ' AUTHORSHIP of the hoax. LONDON, Nov. 22. Sir Rennell Rodd, P.C., who was British Ambassador at Rome trom 190© to 1919, and who is the author oi several works, in a letter to the Times and the Daily News, save: ‘ A representative of John Lane (the Rodlej Head, Ltd.), has just informed me that Pearson has attributed to me the authorship of ‘The Whispering Gallery, and professed to be acting as my intermediary in insisting on a pledge ot inviolable secrecy on my behalf “I told the representative that 1 had never seen the supposed diary nor Pearson, although 1 see so many people that I could not be certain on the latter point. I expressed surprise that, in view of my public record, Lanes could for a moment have entertained the idea that 1 was responsible lor such a deplorable volume. ‘■The representative 'informed ~ me that Pearson professed to know me intimately and related many personal anecdotes, about’which 1 was not curious enough to inquire: “Pearson professed to have been m communication with me during Inday and Saturday regarding the withdrawal of the book, yet I departed lor Milan on Thursday to attend a board meetin". and returned, at midnight. oll Sunday. These statements, -therefore, are as false as the attribution ot the authorship. “But .for the grotesqueness of the invention' which has caused the withdrawal of this alleged diary, it is conceivable that I, who now am 68 years of age, might some day be held post humously responsible for its authorshin. From such a fate public reputations have the right to be protected The Daily Mail, in a leading article, declares that the case is one for the Public Prosecutor, because it constitutes an attempt, under particularly abominable circumstances, to obtain money under false pretences from publishers Who had been the victims of one of the most impudent literary forgeries on Tecord. The cheque for advance royalties sent to Pearson has been stopped.

The Earl of Birkenhead, when interviewed by the Daily Mail, said: “The incident raises wider issues than the present book—it involves the question of how far it is justifiable to include real or imaginary reminiscences ot alleged private conversations with public men I hope that the' fate of -The Whispering Gallery’ will warn garbage manufacturers and their publishers that they cannot with impunity slahdei the dead and insult the living- Ihe practice' of some modern novelists tor example, H. G. Wells and Arnold Bennett. of' modelling their characters on existing personages is highly objectionable.”

What the Daily Mail describes as a queer isort of statement to expect to receive from a man who was negotia ing for the sale of faked garbage was handed in to the hall porter at the Daily Mail office, signed Hesketh Pearson.” The communication reads:, “I definitely stated prior to the publication of the book that the diarist would repudiate all connection with the work when and by whomsoever he might be approached.” Pearson added that he acted only as an intermediary, and that, if there were any fabrication, he was not responsible for it He asserted that he was prevented from givin" any clue to the diarist s identity. The Daily Mirror says that in 1921 Pearson published under his own name a book Called “Modern Men and Mummers.” “In it,” says the paper, he confessed to having shaken hands with the Countess of Oxford, from which he drew sufficient material for a short sketch; but his pen portraits did not reveal a very intimate knowledge ot their subjects.” .

A later message stated that Peareon had apologised to Sir Kennell Kodd for the use of the latter’s name m connection- with the publication. He affirmed that Sir Eennell was not the author, and that he did not participate in the preparation ox publication or the hook. Pearson now stands charged with obtaining a cheque under false pretences.!