SIR HENEY HAVELOCKALLAN (Durham, S. E.)I wish to ask the Secretary of State for War a Question of which I have given him private Notice—namely, Whether there is any truth in the statement which appears this morning in The Standard newspaper, that a grave breach of trust has been committed in the communication of official information to a Foreign Government by a subordinate official in the Office of the Ordnance Committee at Woolwich; and, if so, whether the right hon. Gentleman is prepared to give to the House any information which will re-assure it that effectual steps will be taken to prevent such breaches of trus in future?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. E. STANHOPE) (Lincolnshire, Horncastle)Yes, Sir; it is a fact that a military clerk in the Office of the Ordnance Committee at Woolwich has been discharged from the Service for communicating information to persons outside the office, though not to a Foreign Government. This course has been taken, not so much on account of the importance of the information, but as a punishment for a grave breach of trust in divulging it. Every possible precaution will be taken to prevent such breaches of trust in the future.