Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-14
SCANDALS ALSO N
OLD LONDON TOWN
New York and Washington
Not the Only Centers.

| LONDON, August l2.-The war stores
| scandal continues to increase instead OF
| decrease. as has been expected. Indeed,
| the grating appears to be reaching out
| for persons of high degree much as
| the Equitable Life Assurance Society
grating" scandal has furnished the great
names of New York.
Add to this the fact that the struggle for
| control in India between Lord Kitchener.
| representing the military despotic idea, and
Lord Curzon. representing what remains
| Of the shadowy principles OF home rule and
| civic government, has been very bitter. and
may result In the resignation Of Lord Cur
ION and the complete triumph of the impe-
riakstic idea as personified by Lord Kitch-
ener. and you have all issue upon which
| the liberals can appeal to the country with
some hope Of winning-the first opposition
issue, In fact. upon which they can hope to
unite all of their followers that has been
| brought to the front In a good many years.
With the recent defeat of the government.
making 1t probable that appeal to the
country must take place within the next
| year. the war stores scandal Is looming
up as the paramount issue" And the
greater the attempts to put an end to the
agitation and Investigations the worse are
| things likely to be found when finally un-
covered
| The third section of the report Of the
J committee Of public accounts. which has
just been made public. possesses an espe-
cial interest in that 1t covers portion of
| the ground on which the war stores COM
mission Is at present engaged.
After the war. states the report, $50 SIG
tins Of jam were sold by the government
| to contractor as one-pound tins. 1t then
transpired that many of the tins were four
ounces short, and that the army service
corps officer who had the tins entered as
one-pound tins was in complete ignorance
as to the amount OF jam they contained.
The director Of contracts stated in ex-
| PLANTATION that In the colonies from which
| the jam came they sell It at nominal
| weight. which is interpreted at the war Of
flee to mean 14s ounces and the result of
this shortage was that 337.704 pounds of
| jam had to be written off at a loss of So 600
The committee considers il unfortunate
| that the war Office did not draw the atten-
ton OF those who took the jam to the fact
| that one-pound tin did not necessarily
contain one pound of jam.
Then comes the question of the emergency
| rations. 497. 125 of which were supplied by
Messrs Maconochie under a guarantee for
TWO years. Within that time they were
| found to be unsound and DESTROYED. These
| were replaced by second issue Of 1865 600
rations. but many Of these were also found
| to be unSound.
The verdict of the committee is that
| Messrs Maconochie sent in defective ra-
tions. They specially call attention to the
|
MeSSrS MaconOchie:
| NO member Of the house of commons
shall be admitted to any part or share of
| this contract. or to any benefit to arise
therefrom.'
With regard to the destruction at Dur
bar of over 5000 900 rations worth 81 800
0OO. the committee assign no individual re-
| sponsibility. and state that the losses were
due to circumstances beyond the control
Of the officers.
The members of the committee are of the
| opinion that no more unfortunate mistake
| could have been committed than the omis-
| sion to appoint financial adviser to the
general commanding the field after Col
Armstrong, Sir Fleetwood Wilson's success
sor, had ceased to fill that office.
AT the sitting OF the war stores commits
sion Lord Stanley frank almost to
bluntness. Speaking as ex-flnancial secre-
| tary to the war Office Lord Stanley held his
own opinions and stuck to them. Though
| he has long since left the war office no de-
| tail of its intricate organization puzzled
! him.
The commissioners first questioned him
| about the subject Of the cold storage con-
| tract. They wanted to know how it came
had not even formed a company for the
| work that he was about to undertake. In
stantly Lord Stanley replied that he had
fully satisfied himself that the man was
| ton had been backed by such leaders in
finance as Cecil Rhodes and De Beers.
Asked who the 'shadowy person" so con-
stantly referred to in the Butler report
might be. Lord Stanley did not shrus his
shoulders and plead ignorance as previous
witnesses had done. Instead he laughed and
| said:
Well I suppose you might call Cecil
| Rhodes shadowy personality, but 1 should
certainly take his name as a guarantee so
! far as solvency went"
NpYt haT Scfr
| to the advice he gave In regard to the sale
of stores. Lord Stanley replied at once that
ne had advised such sales. but only in two
spscihc ins5ances-hrst. in regard to oats:
which were highly pershable goods.
rake the case OF bacon" he remarked
geniaily; While We were discussing with
! the authorities in South Africa how the
| stuff should be sold, the whole supply would
| have gone bad, and a result we should
have suffered great loss. Naturally ad-
| v1sed its prompt sale In South Africa for
| whatever price it would fetch"
He went on to discuss the great conges-
tlon or stores that was said to have arisen
| at the close Of the campaign. In this direc-
ton he did not mince matters in the slight
| est. AS a matter Of fact Lord Kitchener ex-
pected extraordinary stores. he said The
whole country was practically dependent On
! the army for supplies, and this belief was
| justified at the time.
To excuse the enormous Importation OF
| oats into the South African countries at the
IioSC VI the CdAHpdlSn IOTQ STANLEY pointed
| out that whether they were sold or not, the
same number OF horses remained in the
country, and there were no civilian contrac-
| tors to supply their needs.
He could not, Of course. read the mind
or Lord Kitchener. he said, but in his Opi11-
lon the commander-in-chef In South Africa
had probably concluded that the supplies
should be sold at once.
Base Ball IS Correspondent.
From the New York Press