HC Deb 22 July 1913 vol 55 cc1833-4
2. Mr. KEIR HARDIE

asked the Secretary for Foreign Affairs whether he will call for proof of the allegations made in Lord Kitchener's dispatch [Cd. 6874] against the prisoner Adamovitch, particularly those alleging that he is a well-known revolutionary who had instigated strikes among the crews at Odessa, and that he was in the habit of boarding Russian ships at Alexandria for the purpose of carrying on revolutionary propaganda among the crews; whether he is aware that Adamovitch was tried and acquitted on the charge of having incited the Russian marines to take part in a revolutionary strike, and that the only purpose of his visits to Russian ships at Alexandria was to enrol the seamen as members of the Russian Seamen's Union, a practice common at most shipping ports; and whether, under these circumstances, he will take action to protect Adamovitch until the real facts of the case have been ascertained?

Sir E. GREY

I have no power under the Capitulations to take the action suggested by the hon. Member in Egypt.

Mr. KEIR HARDIE

Has the right hon. Gentleman any power to prevent false statements being circulated through official documents, and will he ask Lord Kitchener to state on what authority he makes the statements set forth in his dispatch?

Sir E. GREY

I do not believe there are any false statements whatever in the dispatch. The hon. Gentleman does not specify any false statements.

Mr. KEIR HARDIE

If the right hon. Gentleman reads my question he will find that the statements which it contains, and which are false statements, are extracts from the report.

Sir E. GREY

I do not agree for one moment that any of the statements in the report are false statements.

Mr. MORRELL

Can the right hon. Gentleman say whether the Foreign Office Vote is going to be put down again this Session, so that we may have an opportunity of discussing this matter?

Sir E. GREY

As the hon. Member knows, that does not rest with me.