26 APRIL 1913, Page 18

As to corruption in the War Office, Dr. Liebknecht said

that an agent of Krupps had bribed certain officials. The Prussian Minister for War admitted the acceptance of bribes, but declared that it was confined to some corporals and a Civil servant. Last Saturday, when the debate was continued, Dr. Liebknecht said that official secrets had been freely betrayed to Krupps. The scandal was "a Panama worse than Panama." The result of the indignation caused by these disclosures is that there is a firm demand for a full inquiry. On Wednesday in the Reichstag there was a debate as to what form this inquiry should take. The proposal of the Budget Committee was that the inquiry should be by com- mission into the whole question of the supply of armaments, and that the Commission should include members of the Reichstag and experts appointed by the Reichstag. This proposal was adopted in preference to othere, although the Imperial Minister of the Interior, Herr Delbriick, objected to it on constitutional grounds as ultra vire& The deputies, in fact, took the bit between their teeth.