Evening star., 1939-07-24
Foreign Groups Aid
|. R. A. Terrorism,
Commons Told
Carefully Worked Out
'Stuff Plan Revealed
By Sir Samuel Houre
~ the Associated Press.

~ the Associated Press.
LONDON, July 24.-Home Secre-
tary Sir Samuel Hoare announced in
Commons today that the government
had reliable information" that ter
rorist activities of the Irish Repub-
lican Army were being actively
stimulated by foreign organizations"
He made his statement in moving
the second reading of emergency
legislation to help crush activities
which have resulted in scores of
bombings in various parts of Eng
land.
He also disclosed that the govern
ment early this year had found a
plan S" under which terrorist at
tempts were to be organized. He
produced Photographic copy of the
plan in the House.
1T is a very remarkable docu-
ment," Sir Samuel said.
Carefully Worked out Plan.
at is not the kind of irresponsible
melodramatic document that one
sometimes discovers in searches of
this sort.
1T is a very carefully worked out
staff plan-the kind that might be
worked out by general staff setting
out in detail the way in which a
campaign of sabotage could be sue
cessfully carried out against this
country"
He also disclosed that since the
campaign started early in the year
police had seized 1900 sticks of
gelignite, 1000 detonators and hun
dreds of pounds of other explosives
-"enough to cause millions of
pounds worth of damage and the
loss of at least thousand lives"
He said the Irish Republican
army, outlaWed extremist organiza-
ton which seeks the union of Ire
land and Northern Ireland and the
ending of all ties of that united
Ireland with the British Empire,
had surveyed important bridges,
railway works. munition dumps and
airports and had been engaged on
plan to blow up the houses of
Parliament.
Details Not Revealed.
Referring to his statement that
the terrorist campaign was being
stimulated by foreign organizations,
Sir Samuel said it would not be in
the public interest to divulge the
details.
The house must accept my as
surance that these are not un-
checked suspicious founded upon
gossip he asserted, but definite
conclusions reached upon reliable
data"
He read from plan S" a passage
where the authors emphasized that
this was the time to strike when
England had never been in so criti-
cal condition, barred as she is by
political tradition from adopting
measures that would assure her
strength namely, totalitarian
methods"
He enumerated a number of prof.
ects outlined in the plan, such as
water pollution and sabotage of key
industries and said the sinister fact
about it is that the numerous at
tempts made since last January
have been based upon this plan.
Further Powers Needed.
In the face of these re-
ports of foreign intrigue, in the
face of six months experience that
shows terrorism is to be intensified,
we need further powers.
Suppose that in August or Sep
tember we were faced with war or
an emergency, would not the danger
of seroius sabotage be immeasurably
increased by these terrorist plot
terS?"
In response to questions he said
the extraordinary powers given in
the bill under discussion could be
used for no other purpose besides
the suppression of Irish Republican
Army activities.
The measure, introduced in Par
lament last Wednesday. would
grant the home secretary the right
to arrest, deport or bar from Britain
1rishmen suspected of plotting vio-
lence to influence British opinion or
policy on Irish affairs.