MARCONI CONTRACT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 13091, 3 June 1913, Page 3

MARCONI CONTRACT.

A POLITICAL MOVE,

(Press Assn,,— By Telegraph— Copyright.)

LONDON, June 2

Tlie Daily Mail states that instead of proposing amendments to Sir > Albert Spicer's report' on the Marconi contract, the Unionist members of the committee are prepared to submit an alternative report severely criticising the Ministers.. .

a--a LONDON, April ICJ. tor the moment there .. is a lull' inthe interest taken in the .Marconi inquiry, but we have by no means heard the last of it. The only reasonable conclusion que can reach is that an unfortunate mistake was made by Sir Rufus Isaacs in the first * paloe, and afterwards by Mr Lloyd George, and the Master, of Elibank, now Lord Murray. Nobody unbiassed by politics could believe for a moment that these Ministers had been guilty in/ the least degree of corrupt practices. 'Putting it at its lowest -lcvef, it is absurd to think that' men in a position, fo. make vast sums if they choose to adopt dishonest methods would dabble i£ such relatively petty amounts .<# are involved in the Marconi "scandal." The business, however, is certain to play a big part in the political warfare of the near' future. .' Unionists see iii it an! opportunity for diverting public opinion irom the mess they made of the tariff reforn-^ campaign, and they Will undoubtedly use, it to the full. There will be a sensational debate in : the House - when the report of the -committee is presented.. Air Lloyd Gedrg*. jn par- * ticular will be .fiercely assailed, but as the Chancellor is in a class of his own at hot personal fighting; littio concern need be felt foi* his safety. It is in the country that the > Unionists , will turn Marconi to advantage. From . thousands of platforms a garbled account of this Ministerial "gamble" will be told to audiences which have not followed the evidence, and right through there will bo innuendoes about corruption. The business will prove an electioneering asset of the highest kind for the Conservatives, and will be used unscrupulously. It is only fair . to say, howvr- 6r '~ so bittcr is feeli ng against the Ministry of "demagogues'— that nearly every Conservative you meet actually does believe that there has been something crooked about the transaction. / Few of them have read the evidence in detail, but nearly all are positive that the three Ministers axe guilty in degree; the greatest sinner, of course, being Mr Lloyd George, then Sir. Rufus Isaacs, and a long way behind, the* Master of Elibank.