On Friday week the House of Commons agreed to the
appointment of a Select Committee to inquire into the negotiations that preceded the completion of the Marconi contract. Sir Henry Norman dissociated himself from all the rumours that the arrangement with the Marconi Company was tainted with corruption, but severely criticised the contract as virtually granting a monopoly flagrantly opposed to the public interest. Mr. Lansbury said that it had been widely spread about that persons who had information of the Govern- ment's intentions had made considerable sums of money in Marconi shares. When challenged by Mr. Lloyd George, however, he refused to make any specific charge against any Minister. Sir Rufus Isaacs then made a statement which was chiefly personal. His brother was the managing director of the Marconi Company, but he himself had taken no part what- ever in the contract negotiations. He did not know that negotiations with the Marconi Company were contemplated till they were already undertaken. He had never had a single transaction in the shares of the Company, nor had the Post- master-General, nor had the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
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