PUBLIC WARNED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 45, 23 February 1942, Page 6

PUBLIC WARNED

SPREADING RUMOURS

AXIS PROPAGANDA I

A warning to the public not to listen-in to enemy broadcasts was given by the Mayor and Chief Warden, Mr. J. A. C. Allum, to-day. "Over the week-end I have been disturbed by communications that have been made to me seeking confirmation of alarming rumours and statements apparently emanating originally from enemy broadcasting stations," he said. "These Axis stations put out propaganda designed to cause distress to our people. The idea is to attempt to shake their morale and confuse the operations of the civil defence organisations. This is all part and parcel of the enemy's well-known technique which has been applied to other countries, and I urge citizens not to tune in to enemy countries.

"The propaganda is poisonous, and what is heard becomes distorted more and more as it is passed on from one person to another until the statements reach alarming proportions. The public should not forget that Berlin, Rome and Tokyo wish them to listen in so that the statements may be repeated. "It will assist the war effort in Auckland if the public will listen to the requests made by .the authorities and pass them on so that they may be carried out. This will defeat the enemy. E.P.S. personnel, especially wardens, can help considerably by rebuking those who spread alarming and false reports."