The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 1942. NEW ZEALAND PUBLICITY ABROAD

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 123, 27 May 1942, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 1942. NEW ZEALAND PUBLICITY ABROAD

'J'lIK luck of Now Zealand publicity in Britain, concerning which the Press Association's special correspondent commented in a cable published yesterday, is not new, nor did it begin with the war. Few of the British newspapers have ever given much space to news of this Dominion, and now that their size has been reduced to four or six pages they are not able to do so, even if they wished. Nevertheless in special circumstances space is found for New Zealand news, including views, if i' is sufficiently important. The correspondent comments on the lack of reports expressing New Zealand opinion on recent events in the Far Kast. The primary source of such reports should be the proceedings of Parliament, but in New Zealand to-day, because of secret sessions and the censorship, even the Dominion's own people do not know with any certainty or exactness the opinion of their Parliamentary representatives, and as reports intended for cabling abroad are also subject to censorship it Is small wonder if these are inadequate. The fact is that the Government, a ■ it has shown in its control of broadcasting, docs not encourage, but discourages, the public expression of opinion, and if it perceives a controversy developing its instinct is to smother it. In special circumstances of war emergency this attitude may be justified, but as a continuous policy its long-term effects are unhealthy. After the fall of Singapore there was a short session of Parliament. As usual, its discussion on war affairs was held in secret, and all that the public knows came out of it Vv r as a resolution expressing confidence in Mr. Churchill. The value of such a resolution at such a time is not to be depreciated, and we may imagine that Mr. Churchill and many other people in the United Kingdom were glad to hear of it, when so much condemnation was falling upon them. Out it would be idle to pretend that the resolution completely satisfied the people of this country, or that in itself it. conveyed an accurate impression to people abroad of tiie deep disturbance of public feeling caused by the disaster of Singapore. The Mouse of Commons also discussed that disaster, but its discussion was in public, and people both in the United Kingdom and the Dominions were able to read of the opinions expressed, as well as of the final vote of confidence in the Government. In consequence they leat ned that many criticisms which they themselves were making had been made In the Commons, and they were able to read tho Government's replies, and correct their own judgments in the light of those replies. Such a procedure is essential in a democratic country if a Government wishes tor vital support of its war policy and administration, and not merely for uninformed acquiescence in it. One consequence of the New Zealand Parliament's secrecy is a common impression that the Australian Government, far more than our own, has been responsible for impressing on the United Kingdom and the United States the gravity of the situation n the Pacific, and that the Australians have been pleading, and continue to plead, our case as well as their own, and that they are doing so without "I ?u eWe£ e ? la ? d ,- That im P r ession may be false, but we do not know whether it is false or not, nor are the people of the United Kingdom in a position to know. It is not sufficient that on matters of such grave importance the New Zealand Government should have its t°hn? u n3 h W M C K no l oubt lt has ex P resse d privately; it is necessary also that it should have the courage to express those opinions within hearing of Its own people, as well as of the people cf the United Kingdom