ALLEGED BREACH.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20282, 17 April 1934, Page 1

ALLEGED BREACH.

Mr Winston Churchill’s Charge. INQUIRY TO BE MADE. British Official Wireless. (Received April 17. 12.30 p.m.) RUGBY. April 16. ith the Government s full concurrence. the House of Commons accepted a motion moved by Mr Winston Churchill that certain matters, which he claimed constituted a breach of the privileges of the House, be referred for investigation to the Committee of Privileges. Mr Churchill contended that the series of negotiations with the Indian section of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce amoiyited to pressure being brought to bear upon them to procure a fundamental alteration in the evidence already submitted to the Joint Select Committee on Indian constitutional reform. Mr Churchill asserted that the pressure was exerted by the Government and came primarily from Sir Samuel Hoare, but arose also from the fact that Lord Derby, who was’a leading member of the Joint Select Committee, had interviewed members of the Chamber of Commerce and counselled them to alter their evidence. Eventually the evidence was withdrawn and an entirely different document presented. The Speaker ruled that Mr Churchill had made out a prima facie case. Sir Samuel Hoare said that he welcomed an impartial investigation. He thought that the committee would find that the alteration in the memorandum was due to the representations of the Lancashire delegation at that time in India. An inquiry, he said, would prove that Mr Churchill had found another mare’s nest. Opposition leaders supported the resolution, and the Prime Minister expressed the Government’s full concurrence.