WATCH YOUR LETTERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 60, 3 June 1942, Page 5

WATCH YOUR LETTERS

TOO MANY CARELESS CORRESPONDENTS Recently, as the war has come nearr er to New Zealand, there has been* a marked improvement in the standard of care: of persons writing letters oversesa, according to a report issued recently by a censorship authority. In the four months of this year, the number of letters subjected to treatment by the Censor has declined by approximately one half, and letter writers appear to be taking their responsibilities more seriously. There arc, however, still too many correspondents who cannot resist the temptation to pass on bits of news that should, not be passed on, and who are annoyed when their letters receive the attentions of the Censor. There has been an improvement, but that the authorities still regard the situation as unsatisfactory is shown by the prosecutions which have in recent weeks been instituted against those who break censorship regulations. The censor is there neither as a prying busybody, nor specially to get careless people into trouble. He is there to see that this country, its sons and daughters overseas, and, its shipping are protected from those who insist on putting into their letters news that may possibly" inter-* est the recipients, but which is unquestionably of the highest military value to the enemy. It isi the responsibility of the writer to see that dangerous information is kept out. The censor cannot see every letter, so it is not right to put in doubtful facts and leave it to the Censor to decide whether or not thc;y can lie allowed.

Correspondents must remember, said the authority, that with large Japanese naval forces within, striking distance; of the sea routes from. New Zealand, the chances of a ship carrying mails being captured are not remote. Mails are regarded as an important prize, because in the hands of expert intelligence officers, they can yield a rich harvest of military and political facts that could be obtained by no other means. "Too much, information of military importance is still finding its way into overseas! letters," he said. "Most of it is put there, thoughtlessly, but it is not less valuable to the enemy' because of that. The commonest form of carelessness is to give details of defence installa-* tions. Whenever a new aerodrome or a new gun emplacement is established, it seems that someone feels that he must write overseas with full details of it. Too manv writers also talk about the movements of ships. It is not difficult to see how valuable this sort of information would be to the enemy." A common misapprehension is that political opinion is not allowed; in letters. This is not so. Provided that what he saysi is not subversive, a correspondent mayi say what he likes about the administration of this; or any other country > It should, however, be remembered that expressions of political opinion, if they fall into the hands of a clever propagandist may be twisted to give the impression that there is strife and unrest within New Zea-land. It lias been and still is a

favourite assertion of enemy propagandists that the British. Empire is cracking up, and that there* is dissension among the Allies. A letter written without the realisation of this danger may enable the enemy to build up his: case, and shake the? faith of millions of our silent supporters in neutral countries, cr occupied territories. 'The censorship regulations arc designed to protect this country while it is at war, and are not merely restrictions! placed on the people thoughtlessly," the authority concluded. "Every correspondent has in these times a heavy responsibility to guard against ' writing anj'thing that might be of military value to []\q enemy. If lie fails in this rethe censor is force*! to step in."