THE CENSORSHIP.

Southland Times, Issue 18856, 23 June 1920, Page 4

THE CENSORSHIP.

Recently the Lyttelton Times published a statement that is of more than ordinary interest to the people of this country, since it revealed that until recently at least the correspondence of New Zealanders was not entirely free from military censorship. We have received from a former resident of this city, a clergyman now Living in the United Scales, the envelopes of letters posted to him from Christchurch as lately as March of the present year, and endorsed with a rubber stamp, “Passed by the Military Censor, N.Z." The recipient of these letters has a distinctly Teutonic name, but is a natural-born British subject, a fact which was noted on his passport when he left this country. The Christchurch journal goes on to argue that as the Empire is not at war now “there is no warrant for the continuance of an infringement on personal liberty, which however pro[>cr and necessary two years ago, ought to be strenuously resisted. . . . It would seem that unless vigilance is exercised we are in danger of losing in this country some of those rights which have hitherto been icgardcd as the natural heritage of people under the British flag.” We are not in a position to know whether or not (he Lyttelton Times has the full facts of the case or whether there is some simple explanation of the presence of the Censor's stamp upon the letter, but if it is correct that correspondence going out of this country is subject to a' military censorship some inquiry should be made as to the reasons the government has for thinking the continuance of this war measure necessary. We do not think that Now Zealanders will tolerate anything in tlie nature of government interference with the mails in times of peace, and unless there are sufficiently grave reasons for the censorship of outward letters, the position in regard to several matters of acuter importance to the future of the country may be prejudiced by objections to an act for which the Defence Department will be unjustly blamed.