THE CENSORSHIP

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24850, 23 March 1944, Page 6

THE CENSORSHIP

ARTICLES FOR OVERSEAS STOPPED IN WELLINGTON (S.K.) "WELLINGTON. Wednesday The Government's policy'on censorship, particularly in its political aspects, was reviewed, by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser, in the debate 011 the Finance Bill in the House of Representatives to-night. He was replying to an allegation by Mr. F. W. Doidge (Opposition— Tauranga) earlier in the debate that the censorship had been employed to prevent an article critical of the Government going forward for publication in the London weekly paper New Statesman and Nation. "The member for Tauranga made reference to an important point concerning whether the powers given under the Emergency Regulations Act and the regulations issued under it were wrongfully used in connection with that document," said Mr. Fraser. "I listened with some particular surprise when the honourable member read that article to the House, but I cannot agree with him that there was partisanship in the attitude of the officer who prevented its transmission to the paper to which it was addressed. The article attacked the Labour Party, but it also attacked the Opposition as reactionaries. Therefoie, if anybody was protected, it was the Opposition as much as the Government."

"Government Knew Nothing" The Government knew nothing of the article being stopped, continued the Prime Minister. He wondered why it was stopped, although he had thought it a silly article. He had made inquiries, and the article was handed to him by the officer concerned, together with another article addressed .to the same destination and in the same envelope. The second article was couched in indecent terms, and was a reflection on the girlhood of the Dominion. If the person who wrote it thought that the editor of the New Statesman, Mr. Kingsley Martin, would such a thing, he did not know that editor^ "Although I agree that each article should have been considered on its merits. I can quite understand that 'first tne postal censor, then the press censor, in their disgust and their desire to protect the good name of _ the Dominion, stopped the lot" —Opposition laughter. The Prime Minister: A vacant laugh can be turned to serious consequences.

Mr. Fraser's Stand "If it could be established that the postal censor or the press censor were using their powers to stifle reasonable political criticism, that would be a serious matter indeed," said Mr. Eraser. Personally I would not stand for it." , An Opposition Member: Were the two articles related!' The Prime Minister: They were separate articles. I will not read what was in the second article, but I will ask the Director of Publicity to show it to members through the Speaker. Purpose of Censorship

The purpose of the censorship, said the Prime Minister, was to prevent information that would be of service to the enemy leaking out of the country, to prevent the publication of matter which would injure the war effort, and also anything which would undermine the morale of the people. . Anything apart from that if it was si in pi v political should not be censored, Mr. Eraser continued. Concerning the case before the House, if he had been in the censor's position his indignation might have moved him to similar anger and to throw the lot into the wastepaper basket. Mr, Broadloot's Views The House and the country were indebted to the member for Tauranga for bringing forward the question of the censorship, said Mr. W. J. Broadfoot (Opposition—Waitomo). He had read tlie article which had been stopped by the Director of Publicity and he could not see any reason why it was censored. It was political criticism from wh\ch neither party in the House escaped the writer's criticism and it did not nfi'ect military security in any way.

Freedom of speech was one oi the four freedoms tor which the United Nations were fighting, and it must be safeguarded. Asked by a Government interjector if he had read the second article to which the Prime Minister had referred. Mr. Broadfoot said lie had looked at some of it. His opinion was that the Prime Minister had exaggerated the position in describing it as filthy and had attempted to shitt the censor's mistake. "A Censor ol Morals" The Prime Minister: Members will have opportunity of judging for themselves. "So we find that the censor has become a censor of morals as well as of political matters," said Mr. Broadfoot. "He presumes too much when he sets himself tip as judge of what should be written and read. The censor's business was confidential and it would be a breach of confidence on the censor's part to show the article to anyone without the writer's consent." Mr. Broadfoot claimed that the case before the House was not the only instance of political censorship. A soldier in the Middle Fast had written to his mother in New Zealand saying that only the headings remained of an article in a New Zealand weekly newspaper about the soldiers' vote in the general election. Investigation Promised

Mr. Fraser: That must have been the postal censor, but not the Director of Publicity. «

Mr. Broadfoot: Yes, I am talking of Mr. McNnmara.

The Prime Minister: I will have this investigated.

Mr. Broadfoot: Everywhere one goes one hears of instances where the postal censor has interfered.

Tin' censorship regulations had been designed widely enough to prevent almost. anything being put into the newspapers, said .Mr. liroadt'oot. In the last war the censorship was purely military and not political and one wondered whether to-day the real censor was Peter the Powerful, or Paul the Apostle. (Laughter.) The proper way to treat British people was to give them all the facts, and, as history showed, they would come to a right decision.

SETTLEMENT ORGANISER (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday It was announced to-day that Mr. Robert Sydney Allwright has been appointed organiser of the Dominion Settlement Association and that he will devote the whole of his time to the work. He retired last November from the position of stationmaster at Wellington after 42 years with the Railway Department, broken only by a period of four years on military service in the last war.

SOLDIERS' CLUB PROFITS (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday

Units of the New Zealand Kxpcditionary Force in various parts of the world have their own clubs, and recently one which was established in an island in the Pacific found it necessary to close down. It had been operating from April, 1943, until February, and, although reallv isolated, it managed by careful attention to finances to show a net profit of £l4l. This the members have donated to the prisoner of war fund of the .Joint Council of the Order ol St. John and the New Zealand Red Cross.