§ 41. Mr. SNOWDENasked the Secretary of State for War if his attention has been called to the statement made in the "Daily News" on the 8th November that there are in London alone some 2,000 discharged soldiers wandering about from place to place, the majority of them without any subsistence at all and the minority with only the 4s. 8d. pension; and whether it is proposed in this instance to prosecute the paper for making statements calculated to prejudice recruiting and this country's relations with foreign Powers?
§ Mr. FORSTERI have seen the statement in question, but statements of this kind are not, I think, calculated to have the effect of prejudicing this country's relations with foreign Powers—a thing which my hon. Friend would naturally 774 deplore—and it is not, therefore, proposed in this instance to adopt his suggestion that the "Daily News" newspaper should be prosecuted.
§ Mr. SNOWDENThe right hon. Gentleman refers only to the point about prejudicing this country's relations with foreign Powers. Can he say whether such a statement as this is not calculated to prejudice recruiting, and, further, how it is that a statement like this can be made by such a paper as the one in question, while other people in a humble sphere of life have actually been sent to prison for similar statements?
§ Mr. FORSTERI was not aware of anybody being sent to prison.