RETURN OF LETTERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 October 1941, Page 4

RETURN OF LETTERS

addressed to soldiers NOW PRISONERS.

PRIME. MINISTER EXPLAINS. fßv Telegraph—Press Association.) ( 5 WELLINGTON. This Day. Whether letters sent to soldiers overseas need be returned through the dead letter office when such soldiers became prisoners of war was a question addressed to the Postmaster-Gen-eral Mr Webb, by Mr Doidge (Opposition.’ Tauranga), in the House of Representatives yesterday. Could not such letters be sent on from the military base overseas to Geneva for delivery to the men, asked Mr Doidge. He added that letters were now being stead--ily returned through the dead letter office, addressed to men who became prisoners of war during the campaigns in Greece and Crete. Replying on behalf of Mr Webb, the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, said that there were several difficulties ii<y the way of having the letters sent on. Letters to prisoners of war were restricted to one sheet of ordinary notepaper, and no other enclosures, except snapshots or unmounted photographs of a personal nature, were allowed to be sent The address of the prisoner must appear on the letter enclosed, and the writer’s name and address must appear on the cover of the letter. Very few of the letters that were returned complied with these conditions. Special censorship was necessary for letters for prisoners of war. In such letters there must be no mention of the political or economic situation or of military matters or any reference derogatory to the enemy. There was a long delay in receipt of notification of the names of the prisoners and the location of the camps in which they were interned. Even now the internment camp addresses of many prisoners of war were not known in New Zealand. “After taking these factors into account,” said Mr Fraser, “it was decided that there was no option but to return the letters to the senders, so that they could be written afresh to conform' to the requirements.”