ISSUE OF NEWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 24009, 5 July 1941, Page 12

ISSUE OF NEWS

OVERCOMING DELAYS POWERS GIVEN SERVICES OFFICERS AT MINISTRY (Reed. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, July S Opening a debate in the House of Commons on the Ministry of Information vote, says a British official wireless message, Sir John Anderson, Lord President of the Cjouncil, said the Ministry's work fell under three headings: News anil censorship, publicity in Britain, and propaganda in foreign countries. The Government's set policy wns that war news should reach the public as quickly as was consistent with security, and one of Britain's best propaganda weapons was to he first, with the true facts. It had been decided as the best method of overcoming delays that the. Navy, Army and Air Force Ministers should be represented at the Ministry of Information by senior officers who would have power to authorise the issue of news where matters of high policy were not involved, in which case the matter would be immediately referred to the Service Minister for decision. Right of Veto Although the final decision did not rest with the Minister of Information, the Cabinet had laid it down that the Service Ministers' right of veto should not be exercised unreasonably, nor should decision be unduly delayed. Foreign propaganda must be regulated by foreign policy, and it was for the Foreign Office to indicate the target at which foreign propaganda was aimed, but the means by which the target should be hit was for the Ministry of Information. The Foreign Secretary, Mr. Eden, had decided to appoint a special deputy under-secre-tary for this work, and Mr. R. H. Bruce Lockhart had been selected for the post. There were no differences between the Government and thost vvho stressed the all-important part to be played by publicity and propaganda, except on the, conception of the most effective machinery for the purpose. Reply to Criticisms

During a subsequent debate, criticisms were advanced rein ting to British propaganda abroad, especially by means of broadcasting. Dealing with those criticisms, the Minister of Information, Mr. Duff Cooper, said he had reduced propaganda to two main messages—first, that Britain's cause was just, and second, that Britain was bound to win. Which of these two messages it was advisable to stress varied according to the country to which it was addressed. In a great and powerful country like the United States, the rightness of the British cause was most important." In spite of its smaller resources, the British Ministry of Information published more information about the war than did the Nazi propaganda machine. Regarding the result of. German propaganda in the United States, where for 20 years it had been insidious and successful, Mr. Duff Cooper said every day and every week during 12 months, German shares had fallen in America and British shares had gone up. BRITISH TAXATION HUGE INCREASE IN BURDEN > RECEPTION REMARKABLE (Reed. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON. July 3 Commenting on the Finance Bill, which passed its third reading in the House of Commons this week, the Times quotes the remark of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Kingslev Wood, that the bill was designed to ensure that taxation and borrowing from genuine savings shall together pay the whole cost of the war, "without some slow or rapid slide into inflation," a British official wireless message states "A: single man earning no more than £2 6s a week will pay 3s a week income tax, and from this starting point the tax is sharply graduated upward so tliat it is "practically impossible for anybody to earn much more than £l]ooo a year clear." the paper says. '?Wai budgets have more than doubled the burden of taxation. They will have added in a full year about ii 1,000,000,000 to the yield of taxation. It is remarkable that this great and far-reaching extension of burdens has been greeted with gratitude rather than with complaint." POLES DETERMINED STAND FOR FINAL VICTORY * ATTITUDE TO RUSSIA (Reed. 6.5 p.m.) LONDON. July 3 Speaking in London to-day the Polish Prime Minister, General Sikorski, said: "The struggles of national races are but the birth pangs of a new order of things based upon the highest universal human values which for better j or worse will determine the future of j the world," a British official wireless message states. He emphasised tthat the Polish nation deliberately chose to take up arms ft gainst those who refused to acknowledge those values. The Polish nation, which had endured nearly two years of struggle, was determined to stand last until final victory was achieved. General Sikorski said that Russia's entry into the ranks of Germany's adversaries was in itself a significant and favourable event, whatever might be said of the wrongs the Soviet Government had previously clone the camp- of freedom and democracy when she seemed nob to know which was the proper path for her to take. That path was determined by the principal aggressor, Nazi Germany. "Now that the Soviet Union stands on the side of the nations apposed to of aggression and treating international obligations as scraps of paper, we Poles are entitled to expect! i that .the Russians will not be tardy in restoring Russo-Polish relations to "the legal position bused upon mutual obli-! gations, undertaken during 1921, 19H2 and 1985 by means of treaties freely concluded and subsequently violated by the Soviet," he said.