NEUTRAL EIRE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 301, 21 December 1939, Page 6

NEUTRAL EIRE.

PRESS CENSORSHIP.

RELATIONS WITH BRITAIN.

belligerent contacts.

(By HUGH CURRAN.) DUBLIN. A special sitting of the Dail recently gave deputies from all over the country an opportunity to question Ministers on many rumours that had arisen because of close censorship of newspapers.

These rumours —most of them were proved to be no more than rumours— included alleged splits in the Cabinet and the arrest and imprisonment of Ministers. Prime Minister Eainon de Valera informed the Dail that it had even been reported that he had been shot. There also was a story of defections in the army and threats of action by illegal organisations. All were proved groundless.

De Valera devoted much of his address to the Dail to the question of censorship, which he admitted was extremely difficult. Apart from purely domestic matters, there is the delicate job of enforcing the policy of strict neutrality, he said, adding that whatever the feelings of individuals might be toward any of the belligerents it was essential that nothing be printed which would give the impression of favouring either side. He stressed the importance of this because, although the country is not involved in land operations, her coasts have become almost the centre of the war at sea.

Reliance on British Ships. De Valera also pointed out the vital question of imported supplies which this country needs and the market for agricultural exports. Fifty per cent of the former come from Britain, which takes 90 per cent of the exports. Ireland has to rely on British ships for transportation of both, having no major shipping of her own.

These circumstances, among others, make it essential that Ireland's contacts with Britain be more intimate than with Germany, he said. Ireland's trade with Germany, which has. been carried on for several years under a trade agreement, now has ceased because of the cessation of shipping communications.

British relations will be made more intimate by appointment of Sir John Maffey as _ British representative at Dublin. Since the setting up of the Irish Free State 18 years ago, while Ireland has had representatives in other countries and has been "epresented by them in her capital, Britain steadily had declined to be represented in Dublin, although Ireland had a representative ra London. It is considered probable that England changed its stand because the German Minister has remained in Dublin since the outbreak of war. In announcing the British appointment to the Dail, de Valera said that it was because of "special problems arising out of the war situation in regard to their mutual trade, economic and political relations that the Governments of Ireland and Britain had agreed communications between them should be supplemented.

Dissension Rumours. De Valera informed the Dail that reports of dissension in the Government were without foundation. These reports, he said, had arisen from a series of changes that he had made in all but three of the 11 or 12 Ministries. Ministers who had been in the same office for nearly eight years were sent to new posts, and the creation of the Minis--5£ eS °/, S "PP lies and the co-ordina-tion of defence measures required a rearrangement of portfolios.