NAVY PROPAGANDA INQUIRY

Taranaki Daily News, 2 October 1929, Page 2

NAVY PROPAGANDA INQUIRY

EXAMINATION OF W. SHEARER. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. United Service. Washington, Sept. 30. William Shearer, the alleged navy propagandist, before the Senate committee to-day, said that no member of the American delegation had wished to see the Geneva parley end, in failure, and he did not claim that he had broken up the gathering. "Do you know of any one of our representatives who worked against arriving at any agreement?” asked the chairman, Senator Shortridge. "Only one; he introduced a political clause, which was for another naval building holiday,” Shearer answered without giving the person’s name. Shearer said he. himself was for the' American programme for parity with the British navy, and that if he had not been he would have been , with the British who wanted 7.50,000 tons of cruisers. He agreed with Senator Shortridge that he used his brains and ability to get out the facts. Shearer said he also used one other thing, that was naval intelligence data, giving the proposed plans of Britain' and Japan —what they would attempt to do at the conference and what they did do. Shearer related how his contract with the shipbuilders ended abruptly, saying Mr. Bardo reported fihat the Navy Secretary, Mr. Kellogg, "had hauled the Bethlehem Company on the carpet and told them to get rid of me or the Department of Justice would open the Government’s fifteen million dollar suit of 1910 against the Bethlehem Steel Company. Mr. Bardo once declared that Wakeman had told us about the Kellogg incident and said/ ‘You are a German spy and England has enough on you to hang you.’ ”