New Britain herald., 1921-07-30
N0RTHCLIFFE MESS
 MORE COMPLICATED
He Denies Alleged Interview
 It May Prove Hoax

| London, July 3O-The sensational and unprecedented incident of l British sovereign repudiating to par 1 liament through the premier state | ments attributed to him in a news paper interview is given the greatest l prominence in the entire British l press this morning.
 ] Political circles have been able to l talk of little else since Premier Lloyd ] George appeared in the house of com l mons yesterday and read a statement authorized by King George. in which 1 the king declared that words attr1b- l uted to him concerning the govern ] ment's Irish policy in reported in- 1 terview in the United States by Lord | Northcliffe, owner of the London | Times, were a complete fabrication" The Alleged Interview.
 The alleged interview quoted King l George as saying to Premier Lloyd l George just before his majesty left l England to open the Ulster parlia- l ment:
 Are you going to shoot all the l people in Ireland? ?"
 The premier is said to have replied: No, your majesty
 Well, then, you must come to some agreement with them" the king l was quoted as saying. This thing cannot go on. I cannoMhave my peo- 1 pie killed in this manner" (The foregoing conversation appeared in an interview published in New York ! city July 25, attributed to H. Wick ham Steed, editor of the London Times. who is travelling in America with Lord Northcliffe. It was given ! Ixy Mr. fIa offn I,i orrixy from England and subsequently ap- 1 peared in English newspapers attri- buted directly to Lord Northcliffe. The latter yesterday sent a cablegram from Washington to Lord Stanford ham. private secretary to King George, denying the reported inter. view. The cablegram said: l Northcliffe's Denial. | Please convey to his majesty with my humble duty my denial of ever having ascribed to his majesty the word or words as stated by the pre- l fer today. gave no such interview. British newspapers display the en- l tire affair at great length and under l large, headlines this morning. The l papers controlled by Lord Northcliffe contain brief editorials calling atten- ton to the denia1s of both King
  May Prove Joke. l The Times in an early edition, ] sumed that the reporter who took the | alleged interview was misled by ig torrance of British constitutional prac tices but dramatized the conversation with such technical skilP' that the 1 government was induced to accept his version "of a purely imaginary con | the premier
 l The statement does not appear. ill l later editions of the Times neither i does the Times nor the Daily Mail, an l other Northcliffe paper, offer fur, ther explanation of Lord Northcliffe's share in the incident, but both devote ( considerable space in commenting up cn the kings correct attitude in re- lation to his opening of the Belfast 1 parliament. The Times says:
 "At Belfast the kings action ob- vivusly was in accordance with con- stitutional tradition, sbut at the same :me it should be clearly undersood ..lat his majesty constitutionally was entitled to call the attention of his l advisors to his own standpoint l The Mail says that it is unneceS sary to remind his readers regarding
 t.1e attitude of the Northcliffe press ] toward the throne of England and the evered sovereign who occupies it."
 Praises for the King.
 The king it continues, "has done l more than anybody to bring about Q new understanding of the Irish prob fem and to advance the cause of Irish peace, but he has acted, as he always acts, within the limits of his consti- tut1onal position
 After ridiculing the attribution of
 such nonsense to the king, the
 Morning Post says that Lord Northcliffe's denial was needed "as entirely out of character to other au ihentic utterances from the sanTe nps."
 Mail last Thursday describing the activity of Lord Northcliffe in Amer ica the Post continues:
 Hints at Megalomania. Lord Northcliffffe mind is clearly politicians but for the doctors there comes dangerous. The patient must
 either be persuaded to rest or his friends must fear the worst
 I The Daily News suggests that the whole affair may prove to have been a hoax, and adds.
 ''The lesson to be drawn will be simply the danger of semi-royal pro- gress in foreign countries of perl patetic potentates of undef1ned status
 They are only a jest in themselves,