4 OCTOBER 1924, Page 3

The Attorney-General explained on Tuesday that, after the prosecution had

been launched, he discovered that Mr. Campbell had a good War record, and that he was not the regular editor of the Workers' Weekly. Moreover, Mr. Campbell had not himself written the article, but had merely inserted what was supplied by the Communist Political Bureau. As a matter of fact the article did not bear any sign of having been extracted from another source, and, of course, Mr. Campbell's War record (though it would very properly have been taken into account by a judge) was quite irrelevant to the question of Mr. Campbell's responsibility. Probably the Attorney-General was conscious that his explanation, so far, was extremely unsatisfactory. He added, there- fore, the additional explanation_ that he had been afraid that Mr. Campbell, in the circumstances, might not have been convicted by a jury. But in that case, why was the prosecution ever undertaken ? The Attorney-General, according to his own statement, was guilty of-launching a -prosecution on insufficient information.