MR MACEILL'S CHARGE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16790, 20 July 1922, Page 5

MR MACEILL'S CHARGE.

“ABSOLUTELY UNTRUE.” LORO FORRES IN REPLY. By Telegraph—Free* Association —Copyright Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON. July 18. Tn the House of Lords, Lord Forres, referring to Mr Ronald MacNeilUs allegations in the House of Commons regarding the Balfour, Williamson Company. stated the whole of the £rir«'r. trading transactions had the cognizance and approval of the Government. Mr .MacXeill’s statement about an alleged letter to their Chilean agents, he said, was absolutely untrue and without foundation. The allegations were despicable. The Lord Chancellor. Lord Birkenhead, said Lord Forres had been cruelly wronged. No man who claimed Parliamentary privilege should make i statement, jlceplv reflecting on the honour of a member of the House, without making the statement publicly, unsheltered by privilege. The Lord Chancellor stated Lord Forres was offered a post in the Government and a peerage as far bark a* 1906. He hoped Mr Ronald MacXeill would not refrain from repeating his charges in circumstances free from the protection of his privilege as a member of ParliamentTn the debate in the House of (Vun - mens on the distribution of honours. Mr MacXeil]. referring to Lord Forres, formerlv Sir Archibald Williamson, an i a member of the House of Commonssaid he had been informed that ihe firm with which Lord Forres was associated. Balfour. Williamson md Company. was vo notorious for trading with tlir enemy in Buenos Ayres and Valparaiso that the Foreign Office had di nfterl twentv-four accusations, which the Consul-General confirmed. Mi MacXeill mused a sensation in the House hv saying that the Foreign Offioe document ra n i ' 5 a written bv Lord Forres to his ChiW.n branch, stating that it was unnecessary to pay undue attention to the regulations against trading with the they did not get into trouble.