PRESS OBSTRUCTED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 171, 22 July 1941, Page 6

PRESS OBSTRUCTED

CEREMONY AT HAIFA INVESTIGATION ORDERED (0.C.) SYDNEY. July 19. Allegations of obstruction of pressmen at the signing of the armistice in Syria are being investigated by two Federal Ministers. The allegations were contained in a cablegram sent from Haifa by the Australian official war correspondent, who said that despite the historic importance of the signing of the armistice in Syria and its obvious propaganda value, newspaper writers representing the Press of the world were given little help in reporting it. Throughout the day, in fact, they seemed to be pointedly ignored. During the proceedings the conference room was noisy with the click and whirr of cameras. For a considerable time before the signing ceremony photographers had been allowed to plant their apparatus on tables and chairs commanding the best views of the profiles at the tables. All through the day a broadcasting truck was permitted to stand under a back window of the conference room, with a land-line running to a microphone in the chamber.

Official Hostility When I was admitted to the conference room as the only Australian Press representative allowed to be there, an English officer attempted to have me ejected, said the correspondent. I told him that I was the official representative of the Commonwealth Government, and showed documents to this effect, but he merely put me in charge of a provost officer. I appealed at once to General Lavarack (in command of the Australian forces), who soon had the matter put right. Later, for purposes of record. I wished to examine the preamble and signatures of the armistice document, which an English photographer had under his lens on a table. When the photographer had finished, I asked an English brigadier, who seemed to be in charge of the document, whether I could see it. He took it away quickly, remarking, "I am not going to waste any more time on this." "Full Explanation" Wanted The Minister for the Army, as soon as he read the foregoing report which was published in the Press sent a cable to the G.O.C. the A.I F.' abroad, Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Blarney. "I have asked for a full explanation of the incident and why our correspondent was treated in the way he described," Mr Spender said. The Minister for Information. Senator Foil, said he regarded the work of the Australian war correspondents as being of great importance. He would make it his business to probe the whole of the circumstances surrounding the complaint made by the correspondent. The liaison officer between the Department of Information and the Army. Lieutenant-Colonel Treloar is in the Middle East. Senator Foil" said he had asked him to make an immediate inquiry. "I regard it as essential that everv possible facility should be extended to all Australian war correspondents especially to the official correspondent, who was appointed by the Commonwealth Government,'' Senator Foil added.