THE BANK CASE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 1181, 2 December 1924, Page 5

THE BANK CASE.

MYSTERIOUS POTENTATE.

CONCEALMENT OE NAME RE-

SEXTED.

LONDON, Nbv.- ; '3o. . The newspapers resent the concealment of the potentate’s name in the | case against the bank. They declare that suppression will be more harmfunil than publication and point out that the name of King Edward, then l’rince of Wales, was not suppressed for reasons of State in the Tranbvcroft baccarat case.

The'Star says: “King Edward .gave evidence in open court and no attempt was made to suppress the names or factsi. It was a precedent which might have advantageously been followed in -the present case. The criminal proceeding y. against Hobbs emphasises the futility of melodramatic precautions . for concealment of the name,' which is .'.openly published in Europe and America. Every second person in Britain knows • the real name.” Mr Gilbert Frnnkau, in an article in the Weekly Dispatch, says: .‘T venture to say that the potentate’s identity is known to everybody who is anybody and at least 100.000 "in the West End alone who are nobody. The only newspapers who respected the Judge’s request not'to publish the name are the British. The Continental and American editors had no _ such scruple, and therefore the name, which is supposed to be a secret, has been whispered, not only throughout i the white races, but in every bazaar in the Near and Far East. It is known in Lahore, Calcutta, Madras, Bangalore, Alexandria, Turaistan and in every province of-China.” —Sydney Sun cable.

FURTHER SECRECY OPPOSED.

LONDON, Deo. 1

The Daily Chronicle states the police are insistent, in view of the'disclosures in the bank case, that strong measures are essential to vindicate British justice, but they are laced with the difficulty that the prosecution of Hobbs and the aide-de-camp may necessitate the disclosure of “Mr A’s ’ identity. The police, however, consider that as the name has been published in the foreign newspapers, no purpose can be served by further secrecy. It- is not known if the India Office will agree-—A. and N.Z. cable.