AVOIDING CENSOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23659, 18 May 1940, Page 13

AVOIDING CENSOR

i breach of rules letter posted abroad COURT FINES TWO MEN r D T TELEGRAPH—rRF.fS ASSOCIATION*] WELLINGTON, Friday Breaches of the Censorship and Publicity Emergency Regulations by posting i" Sydney a letter written in New Zealand for transmission to London we rc admitted by Douglas Pinc-kncy Walker, wool appraiser and the writer o f* the letter, and Douglas Edward Naish, who took the letter from Auckland and posted it in SydneyWalker was fined £5 and Naish £2. It was made clear that the matter In the letter was political criticism and not information that would bo of use to the enemy. Walker was charged with the offence end Naish .with aiding Walker. Detective-Sergeant Murray, who interviewed the defendants, said Walker frankly admitted an attempt to avoid the censor, but Naish said ho was ignorant of the regulations. Criticism ol Government Detective-Sergeant Doyle said the letter was certainly of a nature that would never be passed by the censorship authorities in New Zealand. It in no way referred to the conduct of the war and was not likely to be of any assistance to the enemy. Indicating the contents of the letter, Mr. W- P. Sharland, for Walker, said the first part contained somewhat trenchant criticism of the policy followed by the State in New Zealand. Similar criticism was heard locally. The rest of the letter dealt only with domestic matters and contained no reference to the war. Walker's reason for endeavouring to avoid the New Zealand censorship was obvious from the first part of the letter. As a wool appraiser . ho was not anxious that the sentiments he expressed should come under the notice of the censor. Walker, added counsel, was 51 and ierved with the Australian forces throughout the last war. Censorship Methods For Naish, Mr. Rollings explained ■that he did not know what the letter contained tin til after the trouble arose. Counsel challenged Detective-Sergeant Doyle's statement that the letter would never have been passed by the New Zealand censor, "if," he said, "as we were assured by the Prime Minister some time ago, letters are not stopped on account of political criticism of the Government. "The only, part of this-letter to which the authorities could take any exception at all," counsel continued, "was the £rst ,two paragraphs, which contained some criticism of the Government, which one hears every day in New Zealand. For the censorship authorities to say that they would have stopped the letter is to condemn themselves." ' Mr. J. L. Stout, S.M., remarked that as these were the first cases of their kind and were meant to be a notification to the public, he would not impose heavy penalties, but any subsequent offenders would not be dealt with 6o leniently. I