CENSOR'S ACTION

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

CENSOR'S ACTION

EXPLANATION TO MR.

HOLLAND

Letters to or from Members of Parliament are not subject to censorship and the opening of a letter addressed to the private secretary of the Leader of the ■ Opposition (Mr. Holland) was entirely contrary to instructions, said the Prime Minister (Mr. Fraser) in a letter written yesterday afternpon to Mr. Holland after inquiries had been made into the latter's complaint that a censor had interfered with a letter sent by him to his private secretary in Wellington. Mr. Fraser's letter was as follows;-— "I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of January 22, in which you state that while 'a communication containing highly confidential and strictly private information of great importance' addressed to your private secretary at Wellington was in the hands of the Post Office it was opened and i examined by an official of the Censorship Department before being delivered. "As the result of immediate inquiries which I instituted I am advised by the Controller of Censorship, Mr. G McNamara, that he has seen the envelope and finds that it was opened by a censor in Blenheim. This action is entirely contrary to instructions, which are perfectly clear on the point that letters to or from members of Parliament are not subject to censorship. Mr. McNamara states that the letter should not have been opened as, on the face of it, it was clearly an official paper, and that the censor possibly did not notice the address, though instructions are clear that it should be read. The Controller feels sure that the opening was merely an error of judgment on the part of the censor at Blenheim and is taking up the matter with that officer with a view to obtaining a full explanation of his action. "I understand that Mr. McNamara has interviewed you personally and given you his explanation of the matter as far as he is able to do so at present."