POSTAL CENSORSHIP INQUIRY

Taranaki Daily News, 21 August 1917, Page 5

POSTAL CENSORSHIP INQUIRY

THE DEPARTMENT'S CASE; By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. In opening the cose for the Postal Department, Mr. Gray said the post office enjoyed the full and complete confidence of the public. It remained to Mt, Elliott to break down that confidence by making wholesale charges of corruption and breach of duty against offiicals in Auckland. It appeared that Elliott and ;lus friends were moved, not so much t>y a gievauce against the pogt office and its officials, as by the desire to use the post office as a stalking horse in an attempt to shake the censorship established upon an organisation which avowedly aimed at hindering the operations of the Roman Catholic Church. It was possible that Mr. Elliott believed he had a high and holy mission to combat what he believed to be the errors of the Roman Catholic Church, but such beliefs did not justify the methods lie employed on the public platform and elsewhere. The base allegations he had made against the private life* of ministers and teachers of. the Roman Catholic Church wero bound to create ill«*will, and the same applied to the letters written to trap postal offiaials. A person who would stoop to such methods was devoid of sense of the duty lie ©wed to those whom lie sought to attack, Mr. Elliott's propaganda had created anger, bitterness, and resentment in the community, arid such utterances came literally witnin the war regulations, which prohibited the exciting of such hostility and ill-will as would endanger public safety. One Of his allegations; that Roman 'Catholics were not taking' a proper part in -the war, was unquestionably such as would arouse bitterness in the heart of every Roman Catholic who heard of it, considering that a large proportion of the British army, and almost'the whole of the Belgian and French armies, were composed of members of the Roman Catholic Church. Mr. Cray claimed that Mr. Salmond had completely disposed of the allegation that the censorship of Box' 912 had been instigated by Catholic influence. The postal officials were in no way responsible for the operation of that censorship. He would prove tlm of the '2500 circulars posted on July none were delayed by the censor, because, owing to a mistake, they were hot submitted to him. The delay must have occurred in the post office, and he was prepared to submit every officer to give evidence regarding it. It was proved that only nine envelopes were delivered empty, and there were only five proved cases of no delivery at aill. Mr. W. R. Morris, secretary to the post office, stated the department took no account of the religion of its employees. Ho did not know, gor did he desire to know, how many Catholics were in the service. He had never heard of friction between Protestants and Catholics in. the department. Asked by Mr. Ostler to' produce the Solicitor-General's order and correspondonce between him and the department, Sir. Morris said he would not do so without specific instructions, Mr. Bishop said he had no authority to order the (production of these documents. Mr. Morris said he did not think that his attitude was inconsistent with his statement. The post office did not desire to conceal anything. The question would affect the censcrshin and not the post office.