Secretly Condemned?

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6912, 18 May 1929, Page 16 (Supplement)

Secretly Condemned?

New Steps Taken to Clear Name of Distinguished War-Worker

For ten gears Hiss Violet DouglasPennant, former commander of the 1 V.K.A.F., and her friends, have been fighting for justice. Fresh facts have been brought to light ____________

under whose immediate orders she had worked throughout. This was done on the advice of Lady Rhondda, who accepted without inquiry and acted on secret information supplied to her by two exW.R.A.P. officers. The nature of this secret information carried to Lord Weir by Lady Rhondda has been withheld throughout from Miss DouglasPennant, and has never to this day been disclosed. The action of General Brancker in dismissing Miss Douglas-Pennant without any investigation or adverse report was the action which normally would only be taken in cases of gross misconduct. The irregularity of her summary dismissal was so glaring that after a year’s agitation the House 'of Lords appointed a Select Committee to investigate the reasons for her dismissal.

which have resulted in a petition being addressed to the House of Lords to secure a reconsideration of the ease. Prominent among the workers on behalf of Hiss Douglas-Pen-n ant is BrigadierGeneral Blakeneg. C.M.G., D. 5.0., and in the following interview, given to the “Weekly Pictorial,” Tic tells what these workers hope to achieve.

■ WILL not go into the details of the treatment Miss Violet DouglasPennant received, says Brigadier - General Blakeney in an interview to an English weekly. All that has been dealt with very fully preyiously, but I would like to stress once again the main features of the case. Miss Douglas-Pennant, a really admirable woman, who had held over 50 responsible positions both under the Government and privately, was urged, as a patriotic duty, to take up the position of commandant of the W.R.A.P. in 1918, and, under persuasion, gave up her post as National Health Insurance Commissioner for Wales to assume her new duties. That was on June 18, and for the whole of the time she was with the W.R.A.F. she found the most extraordinary hidden antagonism toward her. So pronounced did this intrigue (for I can call it nothing else) become, that, on August 16 of the same year, she asked General Paine’s leave to resign the commandantshin as a protest against irregularities. The following day she received notice that her resignation would not be accepted, on the ground that her services were too valuable to be dispensed with.

£3,000 a Day That inquiry was brought to an abrupt termination, before any of the witnesses for Mis§ Douglas-Pennant had been heard (although they were actually present in court) by a pronouncement by the chairman that, unless Miss Douglas-Pennant was prepared to defray all the costs of the remainder of the inquiry, it could not proceed. About ten eminent counsel were engaged by the committee, and the total costs of the inquiry were £3,000 a day. It was obviously out of the question for Miss Douglas-Pennant to incur such enormous costs, and the chairman declared the inquiry at an end.

In the opinion of high legal authorities, certain findings of the Select Committee which reflect seriously on Miss Douglas-Pennant were against the weight of evidence. They concern allegations never put to her in cross-examination, and which she could easily have refuted. In consequence of these findings hqr official career has been wrecked, she has been deprived of employment, and is ostracised by many who regard her as unfit for social or official life. It seems to me to be little short of damnable that such a state of affairs can exist in England. It is just as bad as the old lettre de cachet, and the terrible part about it all is this: It is obvious that the charges against Miss Douglas-Pennant were of an extremely; serious nature, yet she has

Secret Information

That refusal was made by Lord Weir and Major-General Sir Godfrey Paine, yet, only ten days later, on August 28, Miss Douglas-Pennant was summarily dismissed from her post, and from the corps, by Lord Weir and [Major-General Brancker, without any Consultation wjtU Sir Godfrey Paine,

never been told what they were, nor given the opportunity to clear herself of them.

That is entirely opposed to the principles of British justice, and I and some friends have been working steadily for four years to secure fresh information on the matter. As time has gone on, we have been able to unearth a great many relevant things, and we are now in a position to put forward a petition to the House of Lords asking for the appointment of a fresh tribunal composed of competent and independent men to reconsider the matter.

Intrigue Denied It was stated during the earlier hearings that there was no intrigue against Miss Douglas-Pennant in the W.R.A.P., and in this connection I should like to quote the following letter, written to Miss Douglas-Pen-nant by Commander Henry Cavendish, who was the personal assistant to Sir Godfrey Paine (Master-General of Personnel). The letter is dated October 15, 1019, and says: Dear Miss Douglas-Pennant,—See-ing that your inquiry has begun, 1 must send you a line to wish you success and satisfaction for the shabby way you were treated. It has always been a cause of deep regret to me that, though one could see that a faction was working against you from the first day you took on at the Cecil, one was powerless to render you any effectual help against the more or less hidden foe. —Yours sincerely. 11. Cavendish.

That letter, from one in an excellent position to know the facts, seems to prove that there was a distinct intrigue, and that . Miss Douglas-Pen-nant had, from the very first, a hopeless battle to wage as commandant of the W.R.A.F.

In view of the new Information, we have secured a petition, which has been widely signed and has now been presented to the House of Lords asking that the findings of the Select Committee, mentioned above, lie reviewed by a competent and independent tribunal to be appointed for the purpose. That such tribunal be charged to report:

(a) On what charges Miss DouglasPennant was dismissed. (b) By whom were such charges originated. (c) On what evidence were such charges based. My friends and I have been told that we shall very likely make ourselves very unpopular by our action, which is regarded in some quarters as ill-advised, but we have worked hard, and we shall go on working in the firm belief that, sooner or later, we shall succeed in getting justice done.