◆ SpookStack

Lendon = oa s enanaametaee tine ahetamnsinenas ide ! in a to "BRITISH OFFICIALS CRITICIZED ad Toner mareranpe +- oom i coemidiiieieretnien on teliecemiaienivaial natn ete ne einen tent etter “IN BURGESS-MACLEAN CASE A ee i ee me eer st Following is full t text ‘of an editorial st from “The Times” of | London, Sepf, 24, 1955, commenting on the White Paper issued by the British Government on the spying activities of Donald. Maclean, ond Guy Burgess: . - “No doubt the spokesmen themselves were put: up with “the proper information which is usual on foreign affai Even so, it is, hard té square the suggestion a year ago tl Petrov's evidence. was. simply based on hearsay, -and “+. fensiveness. There are not : ‘for comment, and the White. Paper throws ittle new Aight : oats "Potts: ‘call “fot. éomment,” but ‘a ‘dozen points that call “upon them. | eye ‘the: "white Paper on ‘ae -" Maclean and Burgess: That is typical of its primnéss and-de- -°” admission that Petrov Kas * “provided confirmation”. of pa of the story. An even ‘stronger, : discrepancy exists it "> tween the White Paper's evidence that Maclean. was. b ", watched on suspicion of passing information’ and Lord Rei pearin 3 anvdatous “Yate; four and ‘a quarter years after the t two men Red the country, the. While Paper ' wnknown. It does, indeed, mention that Burgess had, just *. before his flight, been - specifically, casked to resign from the Foreign Office because of reckless‘ and careless conduct , ings statement to’ the [House of} Lords on October 28, 195 7 duties satisfactorily up to the date of his disappeara .,» might have’ been _expected to give many details” hitherto’? ; ‘of Ministerial’ replies” on the grounds ‘that it is not desiralj ‘at any moment to let the other side know how much = been discovered or’ ‘ vile *, a ‘offi The White Paper defends what it coyly calls the “retice ess at the means used to discover while posted in the United States. Tt also discloses’ that on May” 25, 1951, the very diy of the two men’s disappearance, the — ‘.. Foreign Secretary at that time (Mr. Morrison) agreed | that “ Maclean should be questioned by the’ security authorities. be- - An excellent principle, but how does it apply in this‘ ca The Foreign Office needed no elaborate means to “discove that ‘it had. asked Burgess to resign or that it was’ closd “watching. Maclean; and the Russtans already knew—othe . eause of ‘suspicions that he had previously passed Foreign ' For some naccountable reason these facts. were not made to. knowin tintil now. For the rest, the Paper does little more 2 "than confirm a good part of the information already known. |. ' "through the Press, und especially through the disclosures by .. “2 Mr. Petrov (Vladimir Petrov, Soviet espionage agent who | a A 7 ., they 4 would. not have helped the two men to escape. The r ; the- of Intended. ” was “stead of becoming bored with the affair, the public scent or: mystery. and wondered uneasily. how much was The ‘White Paper does little. to. remove doubts. ‘about ; security, authorities’ handlin ‘of the matter. It says that, 0 > defected] in Australia: There. ts very little doubt that, but” ~~ .”* fort’ e knowledge. that Mr. Petrov was going to ‘make his #0 evide wee public, the Foreign Office and the security authori- - “ties v ould not have decided to publish a White Paper ‘at all: “even sow. ° 0 the past four and a quarter years the. suspicions fastened ‘on Maclean, . they took a calculated “that he became aware of thelr watch and made tracks’ "": abroad. Events.showed that they calculated wrongly; he d -escape. But {tis more extraordinary to read that, althou: - ‘gravely suspecting him, they decided not, to keep | a watch. his home in Kent._- has been almost invariably the same. A Press report has been ” followed by a ‘reluctaat and often tendentious admission in "the House or at the Foreign Office. Official statements were - oo made which are now seen to have been misleading.” was given to “London (where - was not watched). And, according to the White Paper;: More’ extraordinary still, on. the very “day ‘that author question him, he was allowed to ‘go e was watched) on leave to Kent hers’ coe re *