SECRET DOCUMENTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 22 April 1941, Page 6

SECRET DOCUMENTS

The loss of secret official documents, left behind in taxis, has caused so much comment in England that Captain Margesson, Secretary for War. was questioned on the subject in the House of Commons. He said that documents belonging to the War Office which were left in taxis and other vehicles were recovered in 19 of the 21 cases. None of the losses was from service cars, but there was one loss —unrecovered —from a private car. “In this case, which presented several unsatisfactory features,” said the Minister, “the loser was dismissed from his employment. In four other cases, which were dealt with directly from the War Office, the losers were suitably admonished. The remaining cases, where the losers were identified and the documents were of any importance, were referred to local military authorities for appropriate action.” But all of the documents officially labelled “secret” are not of vital importance. A correspondent of the London “Daily Telegraph” writes:— “While temporarily in charge of the secret papers of the Government department where I work, I received a large buff envelope from the War Office marked Most Secret. Inside was another envelope similarly marked. Inside that was the letter, also headed Most Secret.

“Thrusting everyone else out of the , room (for, who knows, they might [have been Fifth Columnists?), and hidI ing myself in a corner so that no pry- | ing eye or invisible ray might see this most secret message, I read something like this, ‘Most Secret Paper No. 12345/XYZ/000 of 1/5/40 may now be considered no longer secret.’ ”