The Wanganui Chronicle AND RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 190l. WHAT OF THE WAR?

Wanganui Chronicle, 23 August 1901, Page 2

The Wanganui Chronicle AND RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 1901. WHAT OF THE WAR?

The hand of the censor presses heavily.at the front; The weary wr.r di-ags slowly on, and all wo know concerning it is supplied in the form of scrappy] disconnected cable flashes. It is true the public interest in the struggle is not now so keen as it was in the earlier stages, but it is also true that the public have a right to be made acquainted with the doings- of the army in the field. This right no doubt has its limitations, but those limitations only reach to the extent of preventing the publication "of news likely to be of use to the enemy. When; the San Francisco mail, which arrived here yesterday, left Home the censorship question was being hotly debated, due to, perhaps more than anything else, the outspoken utterances of Mr Edgar -.Wallace, the able war correspondent oftthfe "Daily Mail."1 Mr Wallace, it will'be-remembered, was the correspondent who first drew pointed attention to the Vlakfontein affair,' arid supplied the British: public with a- lurid picture of the murderous conduct of the Boers towards our wounded. * His revelations ol an incident which ought to have been officially reported long before his letter reached Home brought down upon his head the wrath of ; Lord Stanley, but nevertheless there is every reason to believe that his narrative was founded on fact. Indeed, Lieut. Hearn has. publicly confirmed the statements made, by Mr Wallace, and the . confirmation 'has been strengthened by extracts from the private letter* of those who were on the field with him at the time of the occurrence. But Mr Wallace has gone;still further,-; and as the result of a trenchant exposure of the censor's methods his journal has raised a cry for the abolition of the censorship. The "Daily Mail" contends that the time has passed by when the censorship was necessary. It admits that so long as news could be telegraphed back to the Boers in cypher by way of Delagoa Bay, information as to British movements had to be carefully withheld. But when the whole of the Transvaal, up to Komati Poort, was conquered .by Lord Roberta's army there was no channel by which intelligence from Europe could reach the enemy, over the cables. It was afc this date that the censorship was^ made, not less strict, but more stringent than ever—and for no other than political reasons. Even in the earlier period, of the war there were many complaints as to the manner in which correspondents were dealt with and the arbitrary restrictions imposed upon them. The consequences were bad, for most of the correspondents returned home as the result of these methods. The people of the Empire were consequently deprived of the evidence of independent observers with the British army, and had to rely more and more upon official messages, which became less and less complete. "There can be no doubt," says the "Mail," "that had there been a number of correspondents in South Africa in October and November of last year,' the nation would have received emphatic warning that the state of tilings was growing daily worse, and the Government would have been compelled to send out in December the reinforcements which did not ultimately, sail before the end of February. It is perfectly probable that under such circumstances the war would have been over a month ago. There can be no more grievous misfortune than for a people to be kept in ignorance of what is happening in a great struggle. And that it hag been kept in ignorance during the past months is only too obvious." But Mr Wallace and the "Mail" are not fighting a lone-hand battle. Mr Bennet Burleigh, the distinguished correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph," has lent his endorsement to the. views of his colleagues by the statement that "the whole business of censorship, as conducted in South Africa, is mainly a bungle and a blunder. So far as mailed letters to English newspapers are concerned, these are always a month behind the event, and the restriction cannot bo to prevent news being taken advantage of by the- enemy. Rather it looks as if the enemy were the British public, who were to be held in .strings as much as possible, and only permitted access to the official bulletins*." Other leading journals have joined in the protest, including the "Standard," the "Pall Mall Gazette," the "St. James's Gazette," the "Globe," and a score of others. It is to be hoped that as the result of the wordy conflict a more eomm(;ii-seme principle will be instituted, and that experienced and able men will be permitted without undue interference to enlighten the public as to the doings at the front.