SECRESY OF TELEGRAPHIC MESSAGES.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1788, 29 April 1874, Page 2

SECRESY OF TELEGRAPHIC MESSAGES.

A contemporary says :— " Why a telegram should not be as inviolate as a letter passed through the post-office,. is one of those things not a few have found difficult to understand. A telegram is forwarded under the supposition that the contents will be as sacred as if it had been enclosed between the folds of an envelope, and passed through as in the case of a missive delivered by a postmaster to a postman for delivery to the T person ?ito whom it is addressed. Until of late months, the practice has been common, when application .has been made to a Judge in Chambers, or in open Court, or even to a Resident Magistrate, 'for the production of telegrams - which may have passed between disputants, to order the same to he produced and read. When publicity is given to that which has been considered strictly private, confidence!-! is shaken, and people -will no longer feel that messages sent along the wires, are to be looked upon as strictly private between themselves and the receivers. . We are, however, pleased to notice that our judges are endeavoring to maintain the confidence which should exist between the sender of a telegraphic message and the receiver as against the outside world. Referring to the subject of inviolability, the decision of Mr Justice Grove, says; the Globe of January 21, will, we believe, be received with general satisfaction. The matter was of supreme importance to the whole community, and he acted only with a fitting sense . of the gravity of the occasion in taking counsel with his learned brethren. The facts out of which the point arose are simple enough, The post office authorities had been subpoenaed to produce the telegrams which passed during the election. In accordance with instructions from, his superiors, an official from the post office attended with tfie telegrams, stating at the same time that he was ordered not to produce them except under authority of the Court; It was upon an! explanation to compel their production that,, Mr Justice Grove took time to consider, and. he announced that the judges whom he had consulted were strongly of opinion the order should not be made. The decisiqn 1 is, for many reasons, a wise ope.. Qases. might perhaps arise whip^ would justify the interference of an electioneering judge, but as a matter of general policy the propriety of keeping telegrams sacred cannot be doubted. Even supposing it were justifiable to compel the publication in open Court of such messages as referred to the election, it would be impossible to say beforehand that private correspondence might not be mixed up with that which was purely political ; and to lay; this open to inspection would be highly prejudicial to the interests of the community. Mr Justice Grove, remarks the Manchester Examiner, January 21, has declined tq compel the Post Office authorities to req-' duce the telegrams despatched to and from Taunt on at the time of late election j or even to recommend their productiou. On the contrary, his Lordship has a very strong feeling against any such course, and he was careful to add that the other Judges he had consulted were of the same opinion.