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sale every day OPINION THE FOREIGN OFFICE OBJECTS... [NTEN SE and voluble activity im the Foreign Office! With what object? To diseredit, as far as vogsible, a sensational report in the Daily Express from its crime reporter, Percy Hoskins. Hoskins sald that. Viadi- unr, Petroy, ex-agent of “he ‘Russian secret police, as told Australian security afficers how the missing British diplomats Burgess}! ind Maclean escaped, where; hey are at. present, and what they aré doing. The Foreign Office replies that Petrov had only hearsay knowledge of the Surgess - Maclean, affair, and no detailed informa- ‘ion, “Later it admits that Petrov has indeed given], information about them. Really, gentlemen! YINHE Foreign Offce isl! wasting its time andl: ours. Is it seriously stiggested that a key Russian agent in a key centre of the Russian|: spy network (Australia) ebuld fail to glean an immense amount of thformation about Burgess and Maclean? Let common sense prevail, ther in chairs Fen | Foreign Office or In more comfortable seats elsewhere. i? gets BURGESS and Maclean represent one of the great triumphs of the organisation to which Petrov belonged. Inevitably, many details about that triumph have passed from oné Russian agent to another—-even as far as Canberra, where Petrov had: been three months when Burgess and Maclean dis- appeared. Whether the detalis: Petroy has passed on are the truth or not, the Dally Express does not know, Does the Foreign OmMfice know ? The one certainty ts that Petrov can tell the truth, or a good deal of it. Answer this charge OWEVER, before the Foreign Office pours its next elegant sprinkling of not-too-cold water on the Petrov story let it pause to read the front page of the Dally Express this morning. There Chapman Pincher says that the Foreign Office had béen warned by M.1L5, months before Maclean fled, that Maclean was unreliable politically and unstable emotionally. Yet the Foreign Office, while acting ‘on @ similar report” about Burgess, shelved this ne on Maclean. A grave charge Is made. Is Chapman FPincher’s a eons oe " story true? Tf so, which "DATLY exes London b-20-5) oun! : ting report? officials in the Foreign Office read M.1.5’s devasta- And on what grounds did they take the responsibility for ignoring it Questions that demand late reply, —=——= Mr. Totson _ Mr, Boardman _ Mr. Nichols ai Belmont r. : Tarbe Mr, Eosen __ | Mr. Tehri. Mr, Tracy. ~— Mr, Mohr _ Mr. Wine Tele. Room... Mr, Holloman __ Miss Gandy | 2 id ee ee a, BY LETT Pears ep PER FGIA Kigucsi ZO) “} eet oe oom NO: hmaded J EARNED 19] Na.. 14 (954 sk GTP a7 7 ‘gin oat paren nt a oe pet ae eM ges EP 2 a ag tt _ ran a oye : Yee wig TE rt es @ Fo oan, Sty 4 Rr OE ge Oe Remap ie bole de a we wets . en antes TER at ek gmt Ngo ot EEF See a nee me ane