1 JANUARY 1910, Page 11

Mr. McKenna, speaking at Pontypool on Thursday, con- demned the

efforts that had been made to obscure the issue, by bringing the Navy on the scene, and ridiculed Mr. Blatchford's articles. He briefly dismissed Mr. Mulliner's charges against the Government as absurd, and added : " The short answer to Mr. Mulliner is that the Coventry works have been and still are excellent contractors to the Admiralty, and have been on excellent terms with them during the whole period referred to. If Mr. Mulliner is no longer in their employ, it is a matter between him and the directors of the works." Short answers, when they are not adequate, have a way of leading to protracted controversy.