WAITING FOR NEWS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 94, 11 August 1914, Page 4

WAITING FOR NEWS.

Everybody is most anxious ,at this time to set the latest news, and the fullest hews. regarding | "everything that is doing* with the great war now raging but, as the Dominion wisely remarks, most people may''have' 'by tlii« timd realised that their very mtuial craving for fuller details of the great events which are taking place in the European theatres of war must be disciplined by a philosophic resignation to the policy of the iva.'-censors of news. Our contemporary continues: Yet the fact is perLiaps not sufficiently appreciated that this policy of secrecy means so much kept from the possible knowledge of the enemy—to our own advantage, 'tnd greater security. So it is also enough in a lesser degree in connection with military and naval arrangements in the Dominion. A certain imount of secrecy is very desirable 'ven as to the sailing of mail steam■rs and routes to be taken. This i.es not mean that there is any special occasion for alarm on the part of the public. It merely means that reasonable precautions are being tak~ ■n. Yesterday a great many people were considerably perturbed by the -•udden call for our Expeditionary Force. They imagined that it meant i great deal more than actually appeared on the surface. As a mat* :i)V of' fact in war time the public must expect these sudden surprises. At any moment the Defence authorii tics may find it desirable to dispatch an Expeditionary Force. It may be to-day, or next week, or the week .liter. A day's notice or a week's notice may be given, but what has to be borne in mind is that in time I war ii is not desirable to publish mi advance what if. is intended to do. If the pubic will bear this in mind, they will better realise that any nti- ' expected action on the part of the local military or naval authorities does not necessarily mean any new '>!• startling development at the centres of conflict or nearer home. It means in most eases merely the putting into effect of carefully-prepared plans whichf might defeat their own purpose had they been prematurely uinounced.