NOTEBOOK “ε” (“EPSILON”)

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH , NOVEMBER 17, 1914

The Daily Telegraph , November 17, 1914.

Parliament.

...“Mr. E. Jones (Merthyr Tydfil) asked if censorship could not be applied to the writings of Mr. Keir Hardie in his journal”....

Later, at the end of the sitting, the same speaker said: I told Keir Hardie I was going to talk about him, and it is not my fault if he is not present.

He read extracts from Keir Hardie’s articles of October 31 and November 7, in which Keir Hardie accuses the British and French of atrocities, and sneers at the loyalty of the Indian troops. Keir Hardie said that the Kaiser was brave, soldier-like, whereas he sneered at “our fireside-loving King”.

Can the government tolerate such speeches from a Member of Parliament? “As a result in Merthyr Tydfil we have had considerable difficulty in the past few weeks in recruiting, although it had been going on handsomely before Mr. Keir Hardie began his tactics.”

Then Mr. J. A. Pease said: “May I just say, in one word, that so far as the Government are concerned, they believe all the suggestions made by Mr. K. Hardie and referred to by Mr. Jones to be entirely without foundation, and that they ought to be treated with contempt.”

(End of the sitting.)