§ MR. CALDWELL (Glasgow, St. Rollox)asked the First Lord of the Treasury, If the Government are aware that the plans and specifications to which Mr. Young Terry, late draftsman at Chatham Dockyard, obtained access whilst in Government employ, were communicated to a European friendly Power; and, if so, whether he will inform the House which Power so received the information?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)(who replied) said: As I stated yesterday, it would not be for the public interest that at present any reply to Questions of this character should be made. But I think it only right to state, inasmuch as a number of statements in reference to this case have appeared in the public Press, that they have been made without the authority of the Admiralty, and must, therefore, be treated with caution.
§ MR. T. P. O'CONNOR (Liverpool, Scotland)said, he wished to put a further Question. In the morning papers of that day there was a telegram from New York stating that the Secretary to the Navy at New York had denied that any information had been received through the American Legation from the London Correspondent of The New York Times. As the report was calculated to damage that gentleman, he wished to know whether there was any ground for saying that the London Correspondent of The New York Times had anything whatever to do with the matter?
§ LORD GEORGE HAMILTONAs I stated before, I must answer all these Questions with some reserve. What I said in the earlier part of the evening was that statements which had appeared in the newspapers relative to this case were made without the authority of the Admiralty; and I have no objection to supplement my statement by saying that no official of the Admiralty has made any charge or allegation against any member of the American Legation, or, as far as I know, against any American newspaper.