§ 28. Brigadier - General Sir OWEN THOMASasked the Secretary of State for War whether all the reasons against the publication of the evidence in the Army (Court of Inquiry) Act, 1916, Case No. 2, are now obsolete; and, if so, will he now give instructions for the publication of same at an early date.
§ Mr. CHURCHILLI see no reason to depart from the decision of my predecessors that no good purpose would be served by the publication of the evidence in this case. The findings of the Court of Inquiry were published in Command Paper 8435, which was presented to Parliament on the 22nd December, 1916.
§ Sir O. THOMASCan the right hon. Gentleman consider that portion of the evidence relating to the cross-examination of Lord French.
§ Mr. CHURCHILLI have no particular portion of the evidence in mind, but I am advised there is no new ground on which the decision of my predecessors should be altered at present.
§ Sir O. THOMASI am not asking for any new ground, but that the evidence should be published. If the right hon. Gentleman will not give authority to publish it, why not?
§ Mr. CHURCHILL:The decision hitherto has been that the evidence should not be published, and no new ground has arisen to lead to that decision being reversed.
§ Sir O. THOMASIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that it was intended to publish this after the War, and that it could not be published during the War owing to certain statements put forward in the course of the evidence, but now there is nothing to prevent publication?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLAs I say, I see no reason to alter the decision of my predecessors.
§ Sir E. HUME-WILLIAMSIs it not the fact that this is a matter of purely private interest, and is now entirely forgotten, and is it not wholly undesirable to re-open it?