On Friday week Mr. Joseph King, Liberal M.P. for North
Somerset, was fined £100 and 25 guineas costs for having conveyed to a friend in New York information as to the destruction of British ammunition at the front in France. Mr. King's account is said to have been greatly exaggerated, but the chief point made against him was that, till the substance of his letter was published in an American newspaper, the Germans had not referred to the matter, and perhaps knew nothing about-it. Sir John Dialdneon's remarks in delivering judgment were not a hit too strong. It is, indeed, difficult to understand how a span entrusted with making the Jaws of his country should have " temporarily thrown prudence and patriotism aside." We should have thought that the House of Commons Would have considered it desirable to take some formal notice of an.offence only.too likely to bring discredit on Parliament. A man who thoughtlessly places information at the disposal of the enemy is not a safe man to have as a Member of Parliament when his country is at war.
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