CENSOR’S TASK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 February 1942, Page 4

CENSOR’S TASK

CARELESS LETTER WRITERS IN NEW ZEALAND HONORARY ENEMY AGENTS. NEED FOR CAUTION. “Hundreds of New Zealanders in all walks of life are apparently prepared to act as honorary enemy agents." This statement was made by an official connected with the censorship of mails and commercial cablegrams in the Dominion. In any one day, the official said, it was possible to glean, from letters posted in New Zealand information which, if it were to fall into the hands of the enemy, would endanger valuable cargoes and infinitely more Valuable lives.

“The reason for censorship,” the official continued, “is to prevent such valuable information from falling into enemy hands. However, even the most efficient censorship system cannot be perfect, and any imperfections whieff may exist can be magnified beyond all reason if innocent but irresponsible persons continue to discuss in letters overseas things which a moment’s reflection should show that they ought not 1 to discuss at all.”

Right from the start of the war, the official said, instructions and advice to the general public regarding censorship had been clear and explicit. The principles adopted were commonsense and obvious. For instance, it was manifestly dangerous for any information to be circulated regarding Naval movements, merchant shipping movements, troop movements, or dispositions of the armed forces. Yet people continued to write overseas, passing on news of sailors, soldiers and airmen in such a manner that the lives of those same sailors, soldiers and airmen, and the lives of all their comrades, could be placed in jeopardy. No reference to any section of the armed forces can be wholly without danger, because a simple innocent statement may become highly dangerous when linked with other information. One unthinking person, for instance, may write that John Smith is still on H.M.S. . In the same mail someone else may have written that John Smith had leave at Auckland. Either statement may be regarded as entirely free of danger, but taken together they show that H.M.S. —— at a particular date was at Auckland, and if this vessel was at Auckland, her departure from some other theatre of war may be thus revealed. Other writers give the date of departure of a merchantman carrying troops or parties of airmen. They talk about valuable cargoes leaving on specified dates for specified destinations: Mention is made of the appearance of new aeroplanes and of construction of new aerodromes. Pages are filled about the location of coastal batteries or of mobilisation centres which are an integral part of New Zealand’s defences. I “In the main, this information is included in letters in a purely personal way,” the official said, “but in the vast majority of cases the personal reference has a significance which involves a whole unit, large or small. That is why the Censorship authorities are entitled to demand from the public as a whole the highest standard of care in all correspondence addressed overseas. There is always the possibility that surface mails may at any time be intercepted by enemy raiders within a few hundred miles of our coasts. Even gossip regarding Army mobilisation in New Zealand and the situation of military camps can enable the enemy to make a fairly accurate strategic estimate of the Dominion’s defences and to shape his plans accordingly. ’ “Irresponsibility and thoughtlessness may be human faults,” the official addled, “but in time of war they can become crimes; all the more ghastly for a lack of criminal intent. They are crimes punishable by heavy fines or long terms of imprisonment. Already numerous offenders have been warned—to safeguard the lives of those fighting for them.