INTERNAL CENSORSHIP

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 21, 26 January 1943, Page 4

INTERNAL CENSORSHIP

The Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Holland) acted correctly in immediately drawing the attention of the Prime Minister and the public to the fact that a letter, written to his private secretary in Wellington, had been opened by an official of the Censorship Department. If, as appears to have been the case from the inquiries which the Prime Minister made, the incident occurred through an error of judgment, Mr. Holland has performed a useful service in having the matter cleared up at the earliest possible moment and thus guarding against any repetition .of such unfortunate errors. If, on the other hand, it had been shown that the system of internal censorship was being extended in an undesirable way, there would have been a case for the fullest inquiry. Admittedly, there is a need, under the stress of war, for a measure of censorship even of internal correspondence, but it should be kept within very strict limits. Some little time ago there were complaints of the deletion from correspondence of statements ..which had no bearing on the war and could not possibly prove of any assistance to the; enemy. This is the sort of thing that must be guarded against. . There must be -vigilance to assure that temporary and extraordinary powers are not extended through failure to appreciate the real meaning of democracy and freedom. Now that the question of internal censorship has been ventilated and attention drawn to the danger of irritating errors being made every care should be taken to prevent abuses in the future. ...