OVERSEAS SHIPS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9625, 3 April 1917, Page 6

OVERSEAS SHIPS

TO SECURE SAFETY FURTHER STRINGENT REGULATIONS PASSED. Tho Executive Council passed yesterday additional war regulations which considerably widen tbe scope of the restriction placed on tho publication of nows of tho movements of oversea ships. Subject to tho exceptions specified in the new regulations, tlie press of tho Dominion will not now be able to publish any particulars concerning tho “movements, whereabouts, cargo, or employment (whether past, present or future) of any seagoing ship other than one exclusively eu,.a"(h! in the coastal trade of Now Zealand, or any information as to any such ship which, if known to the enemy, might bo of a source of dangei to that ship or n ight otherwise ho ot uso to the enemy.” AIADE BY WISH OF IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT. The Hon. A. L. Herdman (AttorneyGeneral), speaking to a “Times represontative yesterday as to tlie stungenoy of the new regulations, said: •‘These now regulations aro more drastic and far-reaching than the regulations which came into operat-on on February ot'h last. They have been made because tho Imperial Government expressed a wish that the New Zealand Government should take steps which will effectually pi event the publication of any information relating to the movements in the Pacific and elsewhere of British snipping. In the regulations of February otn last the prohibition related to tho publication of information respecting vessels engaged in any voyage the course of which lay wholly or partially to the north of the equator whereas tho now regulations prohibit the publication of any information about anv ship except a ships engaged m 'purely local coastal business and it is to bo noted that the publication of any such information is an offence, although no particular ship may be named or identified. c “From this date the publication of the dates of sailing sHips between Now- Zealand, Australia, Fiji, an tho South Sea Islands is -prohibited, and newspapers are barred from making any reference to any oversea ship which may move from port to por n New Zealand for the purpose of pick ina up or discharging cargo, but information about the. movements of boats trading exclusively within New Zealand waters is allowed. BECAUSE OF SUBMARINE menace.

“It is plain (added the Minuter) that the wholesale torpedoing of .ships which is going on at proscut espousible for the new The Admiralty is detei mined to v dace to a minimum the risk run by oversea ships. I have, no doubt that T-he enemv is doing his best at the prLent'me to -glean information about the movements of ships carry inir soldiers and vessels laden witn rich cargoes from the colonies, and Although the public and newspapers mfiy suffer some inconvenience because of the restrictions imposed by the regulations, it 1 is the P lam ,^ ut Z i-itivens to do their utmost to t n ' s trato the dwign s of the Germans y carrying out to tho letter tho re quests made by those who aio en deavouring to transpcrt solffiers and food across the sea by safe paths.