AIR OF MYSTERY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16869, 5 February 1929, Page 7

AIR OF MYSTERY

LAWRENCE'S NEW HOLE BACK FROM AFGHANISTAN (Australian ami N.Z. Press Association.) LONDON. Feb. 3. Aircraftsman Shaw, otherwise Colonel Lawrence of Arabian fame, persevered in his role of mystery on arriving in England! from Afghanistan, lie avoided would-be interviewers, landing at Ply mouth in a naval pinnace ilefore the other passengers, though hn travelled as an ordinary ibird class passenger. .Main people,, including iournalists, awaited hi. l arrival at Paddington Station, but Colonel Lawrence crossed the rails to another platform, and took a taxi.'uh a roundabout way to his Hat at Reusing ton whore he refused an interview. Recalling that, the Afghan authorities had priced Colonel Lawrence's head as the world's arch-spy, the Daily New 1 urges Parliament to demand the truth about Colonel Lawrence. "It is not a secret that, with him as a figurehead," it, says, "England is credited abroad with" maintaining a subtle all-seeing secret intelligence ser vice in the East. We have been assured he is no more than Aircraftsman Shaw. Put, why should a mos. distinguished man, who held a high and important portion in the British army in wartime and whose exploits are known through out the world, be allowed to serve as i. simple Air Force mechanic? It is a •various and extremely irregular proceeding. Whatever may be. the explanation we are certain it is not in the interest of service discipline or in the public interest that Colonel Lawrence continues to masquerade as Aircraftsman Shaw, when his real identity is notorious and his act : vities a matter for undesirable speculation in almost every country of the world."