PERSONAL LETTERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 January 1943, Page 4

PERSONAL LETTERS

OPENED BY CENSOR ! > MR. PIOLLAND’S COMPLAINT, s (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, January 24. A protest against interference with his personal correspondence by the Censoship Department has been made by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Holland, .to the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser. In his letter Mr. Holland complained that the case of interference was not the first he had experienced. Mr. Holland’s letter dated January 22, to the Prime Minister, read: “A few days ago, I forwarded by air mail to my office in Wellington a communication containing highly confidential i and .strictly private information of j great importance and addressed as fbl- ' lows: —Private Secretary, Leader cf ■ the Opposition, Parliament .Buildings, \ Wellington Four official stamps were [. used for postage. While that communication was in the hands of the i Post Office it was opened and exam- ■ ined by an official of the Censorship ■ Department before being delivered. “I must enter the .strongest possible protest against this interference with ' my private correspondence and with ‘ my right to use the internal postal services as a legitimate means of communication without risk of important documents being interfered with. As you know, the correspondence of Ministers of the Crown is exempt from censorship. “I regret to say that this is not the first occasion on which my personal mail has been subject to interference and following so soon after the recent

occasion when an important public statement I wished to make was suppressed by the Director of Publicity, you can appreciate that I feel very strongly in the matter.” INQUIRY TO BE MADE. MR. FRASER’S CORRESPONDENCE OPENED. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, January 24 “I will make immediate inquiries of

the. Controller of Censorship, Mr. McNamara. If Mr. Holland’s letter was subjected to censorship, I agree he has every right to feel indignation about the matter,” said Mr. Fraser when interviewed. “I have had my own correspondence opened on several occasions by the censorship, obviously by mistake.” When telephoned from Christchurch, Mr. McNamara commented that there, was generally very little censorship of inland mails and certainly no censorship other than by accident of letters addressed to or from members of Parliament. If the letter had inadvertently been opened, some censor had become tired at his work.