DRASTIC DECREE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25514, 19 April 1944, Page 5

DRASTIC DECREE

FOREIGN DIPLOMATS REMOVAL OF IMMUNITY NOT TO LEAVE BRITAIN (Rec. 7 p.m.) RUGBY, Apl. 17. In the most drastic clampdown in history against the leakage of vital secrets from Britain, the British Government has severely restricted the activities of foreign diplomats in London.

The Foreign Office issued the following statement: —

“ The British Government has informed the heads of all the diplomatic missions in Britain that from midnight to-night until further notice they will be unable to permit, first, tiie transmission or receipt by diplomatic missions in Britain, of any telegram not in plain language; secondly, the despatch of any diplomatic bag which hae not been submitted to censorship, and the receipt of such bag despatched after that date, until it has been censored; thirdly, the departure from Britain of official couriers or diplomatic staffs. "In the unprecedented circumstances created by impending military operations, any inadvertent disclosure of information which resulted in helping the enemy or in unnecessary loss of British or Allied lives might have such serious effects not only upon the course of these operations, but also on the relations between Britain and any foreign country whose nationals were concerned, that the Government has reluctantly felt bound to adopt this unusual security measure. “ These restrictions will, of course, be removed at' 1 the earliest possible moment, consistent with the requirements of security, and in the meantime all such steps possible wiii be taken to facilitate communication between the diplomatic and consular representatives of other Governments. “ Only the Russian and United States diplomatic representatives will be excepted from the new regulations.” Normally diplomatic privilege operates even in war-time. Diplomatic bags hitherto have been exempt from any form of censorship, delay, or examination. Diplomats throughout the war have been free to come and go as they wished, using special passports exempting them from restrictions, and their couriers enjoyed a similar privilege. Diplomats could also send and receive telegrams in secret code. The diplomatic correspondent of The Times says: “It is a measure of security beyond all precedent. It is one of the extremest precaution, temporarily robbing all neutral and a majority of Allied missions of the means by which they normally carry on their work.”

The Press Association’s diplomatic correspondent says: “Never 1 before has a country taken measures so stringent to ensure (hat no inkling of its military preparations, strategy, and plans reach the enemy. Russia and America are the only exceptions to the ban. “The announcement applies not only to ambassadors, Ministers, and other diplomats attached to foreign embassies and legations, but to naval, military, and air attaches, and similar officials. The Governments of the Soviet Union and the United States, which recently asked Eire to close the German Legation and the Japanese Consulate in Dublin, were both consulted, before the imposition of these drastic security measures. It is felt that the safety of thousands of British and American soldiers depends on preserving the secrets of the Allies’ second front, and it is also essential that there shall be no leakage to the enemy of the details of secret weapons which will be used, and also the methods to be adopted and the number of troops involved.”

The correspondent adds that he that while foreign representatives ih London must in future use plain language for telegraphic messages, cypher will be able to be used in a British Government code. These messages would presumably be delivered through a British embassy or legation m a foreign capital. The Swedish Foreign Office reports that safe conduct air travel by Swedes to and from Scotland is being stopped, apparently as the result of the tightening of the British security regulations in connection with the invasion plans. Only one more trip from Scotland is planned.