NEWS TO ENEMY

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 13240, 16 January 1941, Page 4

NEWS TO ENEMY

ADVERTISING OVER THE AIR BAN SUGGESTED BY MR DOIDGE That innocent-looking advertisements broadcast from commercial broadcasting stations might be one of the means of conveying information to enemy raiders, was a suggestion made by Mr F. W. Doidge M.P. while addressing the meeting held for the purpose of forming the Home Guard in Tauranga, on Tuesday evening. The thought had crossed his mind, he added, that it might be suggested to the Government that it should place a ban on commercial broadcasting for the period of the war. Mr Doidge made these observations while speaking of the many duties that could be undertaken by the Home Guard, one of the proposals being that the guard could play an active part in stamping out Fifth Column activities.

These were days, he said, in Avhich we were all very interested in enemy agents. The ramifications of Hitler’s Fifth Column were world-wide, and there was. not a country on the face of the earth where enemy agents were not active. We knew they were active In this country. Mr Doidge referred to recent sinkings off these shores by enemy raiders, adn stated that there was every reason for believing that these raiders, and stated that there was every cerning the movements of ships from someone inside this country and Australia He referred, to the sinking of the Rangitane and added that the information concerning the sailing of that vessel must have been forwarded to the enemy by wireless. We were, he said, most meticulous in the care taken to see that there were no transmitting sets concealed anywhere, and in other efforts to prevent vital news from leaking out, but it had occurred to him that one way in which the news could be conveyed was by means of advertising through the commercial stations. In his opinion promiscuous advertising over the air in wartime should be stopped. How were we to know that a simple and innocent-looking advertisement broadcast over the air was not conveying some message in code to the enemy. An advertisement like “Eat more bananas,” sounded innocent enough, but how did we know there was not a hidden message contained in it.

Mr Doidge added that in Parliament recently he had asked the Prime Minister why a war regulation concerning philatilists was necessary, as it had thrown several stamp dealers out of work, and the Prime Minister’s reply was that stamps interchanged overseas by collectors had been successfully used in the past in espionage work. Could not advertising over the air be used for the same purpose?