MINISTRY OF INFORMATION

Evening Star, Issue 23372, 15 September 1939, Page 5

MINISTRY OF INFORMATION

PREMIER REVIEWS ITS ACTIVITIES SHARP CRITICISM FROM OPPOSITE* LONDON, September 13. “The work of the Ministry of Information is the most difficult type of work that can be assigned to a Govorn r ment department,” said the Prime Minister (Mr Chamberlain), in reviewing the war situation in the House of Commons.

“ Such a Ministry,” he .proceeded, “ must continually seek to steer between giving information which might help the enemy to defeat or destroy our own troops and withholding information with tho risk of creating the impression that terrible things may be happening of which the public has no knowledge. In Jthe second p*ace, the Ministry of Information is necessarily a department which cannot begin its real work in any real sense until the outbreak of war, and then at a moment’s notice it lias to spring into the fullest activity. “ It can scarcely be expected that in the face of such formidable difficulties as these errors will not be made, and some of them will be serious enough to cause trouble and exasperation to the whole Press. 1 regret such incidents, and 1 should like now to express my appreciation of the patriotic way in which the Press generally in this country has co-operated with the Government and sought to play its part in the common struggle. “ 1 have already declared to the House my desire and the intention of the Government,” Mr Chamberlain said, "to give the fullest possible information to the public and do ail that we can to prevent any feeling in the minds of the public that they are being kept dark That is the principle to which, through the Ministry of Information, we shall seek to give effect. Improvements in the machinery can, 1 have no doubt, be made, and the debate to-day may help us to discover what some of these improvements should be, but I feel that in these early days I am entitled to ask the House and the country for patience and toleration while we are endeavouring to correct what has gone wrong and build up a satisfactory and efficient service.”

The Leader of the Opposition (Mr Arthur Greenwood) attacked the Ministry of Information. He declared that the treatment of the story of the arrival of British troops in France had created among the publishing newspaper trade in Britain consternation, dismay, confusion, and enormous expense, which was not warranted. Ho explained that the Ministry first allowed the publication of the news, then cancelled it, and then again allowed it.

Mr Greenwood declared that the newspapers were justified in calling it a muddle of the worst kind. “ We are entitled to know who is responsible for treating people of Britain like children,” he 'said. “ 1 have a document hero showing that the absurdity is due to one person, the Secretary for War (Mr L. HoreBelisha), who has no right to override the Minister of Information (Dr Leslie Burgin).

Mr Greenwood added that there was no effective co-operation between the fighting services and the Ministry of Information. The neutral Press was relying on German sources because it got plenty of news in good time. Turning to supply, Mr Greenwood said the tas'k had not been faced with sufficient vigour. Profiteering was going on on a large scale. The trade unions were in no mood to be regarded as a poor relation, and claimed equality in the direction of policy. The Lord Privy Seal (Sir Samuel Hoare) gave an assurance that a senior officer of each service would in future be at the disposal of the Ministry of Information to act in conjunction with it. He added that the General Staff" had protested strongly against the publication of the news of the expeditionary force, but when it was pointed out that it was already in circulation the prohibition was withdrawn. The fact that public discussion was possible on the mistakes of the Ministry was a sign not of weakness, but of strength. Naturally it would take time to get a complicated department running smoothly.

The Minister of Information (Dr Burgin) said he considered that his department should be a source of information, not an organ of censorship, and he was determined to tell Britain’s story in full in England and abroad.