NEWS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2224, 10 August 1914, Page 4

NEWS OF THE WAR

VEIL OF MYSTERY

POSITION EXPLAINED IN PARLIAMENT l«^w? mcnt rogt ! r<lin S tlle ™ws received b} the Government was made in the Legis- £ HTm nr 1 '- 1 /*' 1 !' tL i<?? : (Minister of Internal Affairs), who said: "Sir/before asking you ?.f P th ® cha ir until the ringing of the ben there is one point, I desire & speak , ?"• rh , erol3 idea in the minds, perhaps, of some honourable members, and certainly in the minds of the public, that the Government have in their possessioS ' new s of Europe end of the scene of the contests,there which.is not in the possession of the people of New Zealand. That is not the case. We have such knowledge as the Imperial Government thinks fit to communicate to another Government in the Empire of the iitention of the.Empire in certain respects. That is an entirely different matter. We have sought and received instructions in matters of grave importance, but no such matter has any relation to the actual conditions of the contest going on in Europe. It has relal- - to the steps which the Imperial Government thinks necessary to safeguard' the interests of the Home Oountry\and ' its dominions. There is one other point. Nominally, all communications between the Imperial Government and the Government of a dependency of . the Empire takes place through the Imperial representative, his Exoellency the Governor; ' but in ordinary times there is a supplementary source of communication between the . representatives of the Government of a dependency ,in London and the Government of a dependency by which the ' Government here is in indirect communication. with' the Imperial Administration, »In' time of war that ceases. His Excellency is the sole source of communication between the Imperial Government and the Government of this Dominion, and the communications which take place between his Excellency and the Government are therefore necess&rily more frequent and more' obvious to the public than is usually the case. If the Imperial Government have any communication of importance to 1 ' make to the Government of New Zealand it can obviously be only made in one forih, and that.is by the solemn secret cipher, which exists in .the case of war, and which is known only to the Governor of a dependency and the Imperial authorities. Communications, perhaps trivialities, perhaps important, can l>e made end received only in that way. Therefore .there may be many occasions such as we had the other day nf Parliament adjourning in order that tho Governor may meet his Ministers when the matter is by no means ns important as it will appear from that circumstance, but I want hon. members to understand—nnd-1 desire that, the people shall understand—that in no case can ■ such a communication be a communication of what is ordinarily called news, and th fit the Government aro as dependent as any member of the public for news of the condition, of the contest upon the newspapers and the Press Association. We Have no other source of information. The time of the Imperial Government and his Ex- i cellency is occupied by attending to the business of the Empire, and not In disseminating news of the events, grave as they are to all of us, which are nappenin" on the Continent of Europe. I nope I luivo made that plain, and I trust it will be so,recorded so that it will be understood,' and that hon. members will believe that if such an interruption of business such as occurred' the other day, and ' such as must constantly occur, happens, it would not necessarily involve, and indeed, in hardly any case could it involve, a communication which could be made to Parliament. AH the information we have i 9 of the nature I have described, and is. absolutely and entirely confidential, and is not communicated by the Governor or [\r,y of his Administration to anybody outside .the' Cabinet doors." ■ ' A statement similar in effect was made by tho Prime Minister in tho House. Mr. Massey said that it had come to his_ knowledge that'th ere an' impression in Wellington that news of the war was coming to the' Government which was not being given out to the public. This was uot 60 (it all. Ho had done his best to obtain news for the Government and the people of-New. Zealand, but he was bound to admit that to some extent had fail-, ed! He had cabled to the High Comrnis--sioner to send the earliest news available, and ho had had Mr. Mackenzie s leplies, but in every case tlifc replies had/been anticipated by the Press Association here, and the first news came to tho Government from the Press Association or from the newspapers. ... , Later, when Mr. Massey read the good. news to the House, also received from the Press Asociation, that to defend her neutrality and that Holland had declared war on Germany, Sir Joseph Ward urged that the Government oJRht to endeavour to arrange to be supplied with news which could bo piven out as authentic. Mr. Massey said he tried to information from tho . High Commissioner, and had now he proposed to fay to get it from another source. ■■