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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 150, 20 November 1914, Page 4

RBB-TAPE. ( Last night we reoeived a, memo, from the Postma&tcr-Gcncral, intimating that | objootiqas are bow withdraw* to pah* j lioatio* of references to the eirtarkß* j tion an 4 departure of our Bxpeditiomury Force. The memo, goes on to say:— i . 1 beg yon to mote that there is ■• ! peraissiom to pnblisk: (a) The date of j departure of the New Zealaad or Aus- j tralian Bxpeditiomary Force* from any port in STew Zealand, Australia, or else- I where; (b) the route to be followed by the Expeditionary Force; (o) the names ! of any warships or transports; (d) the ' dates or places from which private let-1 ters were written; (o) the numbers or organisation of the Expeditionary Forces, | or any other Expeditionary Forces met | with en route. If you publish private letters, you should bo very careful to cut out information as indicated aboTe. I am obliged to say that any breaches of the regulations must be severely noticed. No doubt it is necessary, for the safety ' of our Forces, to impose some restric- j tions in connection with the publication of reports of their morements, 1 but in our opinion the New Zealand Gov- j ernment is carrying the secrecy business j altogether too far. We have been pre- j Tented from mentioning anything about ■ the composition and movements of our • and tho Australian troops, but recent! English and American papers publish full details, giving the numbers of the contingents, their composition, the names of the warships engaged in convoying, as well as the number of transports. Tet we in Now Zealand must not give away that information for fear it may Teach tho enemy! The thing is obviously absurd. This morning we publish for the first time an account of the departure of our Foroes. What possible harm; could there havo been in publishing the ' report at the time the men left? Have I not tho Government control of the mails, I, the telegraph, and tho wireless? How, j then, could information have reached', the enemy? If secrecy was necessary, I how is it that the Press of England and America published particulars? It seems to us that there is a good deal of unnecessary red-tape being used by our Government over the war, and ther sooner they discard it, and behave like f rational beings, the better it will be for, tho public, who are now treated like a lot of school children.