Show SOVIET IMS LETTES HELD GENUINE MacDONALD MAKES KNOWN DATh LETTER IS RECEIVED AT FOREIGN OFFICE Prime Minister Expresses Belief That That Incident of Message Was Political p Plot ICard Cardiff iff Wales Wales Prime Prime Minister Minis MacDonald s speaking aking before a political cal meeting declared that he honestly believed to be genuine the alleged letter letter letter let let- ter from M. M to the British communists upon which was based in part the protest submitted by the British foreign office to the soviet representative in London Accepting the challenge to make public the date of receipts of the letter made to the government by the press hostile to it Mr MacDonald declared that the letter had been received by bythe bythe bythe the foreign office on October 10 the date of the dissolution of parliament Only nine days elapsed between the receipt of the document and the answer answer answer an an- he said Stressing the fact met that at the me matter had been handled in the briefest possible pos- pos sible time the premier asserted that in the old days the foreign office would have taken weeks to deal with the situation Mr MacDonald declared unequivocally unequivocally unequivocally cally that the British government would not brook interference from any foreign power He said he could not avoid the suspicion that the entire entire entire en en- tire incident was a political plot The premier said he had received the letter from the foreign office October 16 and had returned it with the comment that greater care should be taken to discover whether it was authentic but that if it were i authentic it should be published im mi- mediately He had received the draft of the foreign office protest which later was submitted to the Russian charge d' d d'- d' affaires Christian on October October October Octo Octo- ber 23 had altered it and then returned returned returned re re- re- re turned it to the foreign office ex expecting expecting expecting that it would be returned to him with proofs of the authenticity of the document That night however the protest to M. M Ra Ra- Ra- Ra kovsky was not published 1 l' l rr Lt L U unice me nc prime minister nun min ister continued honestly believed the document to be authentic and the foreign foreign foreign for for- eign office officials acted on that be- be be be- lief They knew he would not tolerate tolerate tol tot erate that propaganda Referring to the possibility that the letter might have been a forgery the premier declared If ulf the letter is a forgery it shows the amount of with which we are being surrounded My experience has made it impossible for me not to be suspicious If the letter is genuine depend upon it that so long as there is a labor government government govern govern- I ment mont and I am responsible to that government government government gov gov- it will handle with firmness and discrimination every attempt byan by byan byan an outside power to with our internal affairs |