CRITICISED BY PRESSMEN

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 43, 19 August 1918, Page 7

CRITICISED BY PRESSMEN

INJURY DONE TO ALLIED CAUSE

(REOTER'S TELEGRAM.) (Received August 19, 8,30 a.m.)

LONDON, 18th August.

Lord" Northcliffe entertained the Australasian, Canadian, and American pressmen at luncheon in the courtyard of The Times office. The guests included Mr. Massey, Sir Joseph Ward, and Sir Thomas Mackenzie, and a host of prominent overseas representatives. Lord Northcliffe, after paying a. tribute to the war efforts of the Overseas Dominions, said the Americans had proved to be "the goods." What the Germans had called a niohf in uniform had\proved to be an entirely new and most efficient kind of army. He estimated that America's potential output of air engines was far greater than the combined output of Austria and Germany or of the whole of the British Empire. America could produce ten thousand air motors a month. America's efforts in transporting troops, in food production, and in shipbuilding were unimaginable, and were notable for a punctuality, far. in advance of the Government's promises. Criticising the British Government's censorship methods, Lord Northcliffe said the world had never realised the magnitude of Britain's silent effort. The bast of proof of what Britain had done existed in the casualty lists, which the .censor had not permitted to be known by us or our allies. The Germans knew our casualties to a man. He estimated that we had 900,000 killed during the war, and that last year our casualties were over 800,000. These figures were sufficient answer to the German propaganda, and were proof that England was ready to fight to the last. He stated that every pacifist .newspaper in Britain, was subsidised, which indicated the lack of demand for such ptiblications. Mr. R. M. Hacket (Auckland Herald) replied on behalf of the New Zealand pressmen, and Mr. Campbell Jones (Sydney Sun) on behalf of the Australian pressmen. Mr. Jones declaimed that the British censor was juvenile compared with the Australian censor. He believed that a great injury had been done to the Allied cause by the lack, of public understanding about many vital aspects of the war. Ninety per cent, of this misunderstanding was due to the censorship. " He gave as an example the improvement in recruiting in Australia after British reverses, and added : "If you had a Sedan you would have all Australia, over here."