CENSOR’S BAN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20915, 15 October 1942, Page 2

CENSOR’S BAN

MINISTERS views protestTn house MR. HOLLAND CRITICAL DEFENCE BY PREMIER (P.R.) WELLINGTON, this day. “I am attacking the system that places in the hands of any one man the right to go- over the heads of resoonsible Ministers and veto their right to tell the public anything they think the public ought to be told," said the Leader of the Opposition. Mr. S. G. Holland, in the House of Representatives last night when he referred to censorship in New ZealancL A vigorous reply was made by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser. .■ op Mr. Holland said that when he announced his resignation from the War Administration, he had referred to what he then called “another matter.” and he went on to explain what that was. As Minister of War Expenditure, he had thought there was a need for a scrutiny of the proposed items • of war expenditure, and he had suggested the creation of a committee for that purpose. He had proposed the formation of another committee to look into the matter of efficiency and economy of war work and the Army and Treasury had approved of that. _ ■' , He had prepared for publication in the press a statement explaining this and a copy went to the censor who, • to Mr. Holland’s amazement, prohibited the publication of the statement. In doing that the censor overruled the acting Prime Minister, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan. Misuse Alleged Mr. Holland said that the people of New Zealand ,had the right to know how the money was being spent on the war. No suggestion had beeri made that the statement .containedinformation of value to the enemy. “I want to x-aise my voice in pro- . test against the misuse of consOrship to nrotect the Government,” said Mr. Holland. “Despite the co-opei'ation of the newspapers, there was an absence of any effective news service in New Zealand and he commended the recent statement on censorship made by the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association. The people were kept in ignorance of many things which they were entitled to know, of many xecent happenings in the country and that had resulted in the spread of garbled versions and rumours.” . : Mr. Holland said that he had urged the setting up of a Ministry of Information and had been told that softie nrooosal was under way, but nothing had been done ■( < “The people must be told the truth” he said. "It is no good treating them like a lot of clildren.” Replying, the Prime Minister said that Mr. Holland had stated that certain action taken by the censor was to defend the Government. The War Cabinet from the beginning, however, had been responsible for the administration of war finances and, therefore, there was no question of defending the ordinary Government. In l-egard to statements on war policy, the War Cabinet had laid it down that they must be submitted. The-censor in a case like that would not interfere and had never interfered. . The censor had always given the. Prime Minister the opportunity of looking at Minisr fers’ statements whatever they' were. Mr. Fraser said that he himself never made a statement on any aspect of the war issue without submitting it to the censor. Other members of the War Cabinet, not all of them on the Government side of the House, had considered that Mr. Holland’s statement was unfair, not to the Government but to members c-f the War Cabinet. One condition of comradeship in a common enterprise was loyalty to each other. ~ • Mr. Holland: “And tne acting-Prime Minister approved of it. Denial of Approval . Mr. Fraser: The Minister told'me that he did not approve of the statement and that he actually offered to rearrange part of it so that it could be published. Is that not so? The Minister of Supply, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan: Correct, r • Another member of the War Cabinet had offered his services, continued Mr. Fraser, to trims the statement into a form which left no i-eflee-tion on Mr. Holland’s colleagues.: Why did Mr. Holland .-have a complaint? Did he want to stab the* Government, that he was co-operating with in the' back? That was the only .ground ox complaint he could- possibly have. The censor had done what he usually did. The attention of the actingPrime Minister, who was the head of the team for the time being, had been called to the statement so. that it could be discussed and . issued in a form representing the War Cabinet as a whole. Mr. Holland was suffering from a misconception of what his duty was—a misconception' that was■ quite inexplicable to himself. Why? Because he looked upon himself, ; not ,as a representative of the people of the War Cabinet, but as a representative of certain class interests (Opposition laughter, and Government. hear! hears!) at a time when the idea was to get unity of purpose and to act in the interests of the people as a whole, continued Mr. Fraser. , “The honourable member was, according to an opinion expressed by himself, in the W r ar Cabinet to look after certain interests he represented.” said Mr. Fraser. “Was there a basis for common action under such circumstances?”