Censorship of all communications has been imposed by the Government as a normal war precaution, but the powers of the censor are being exercised only in respect of reasonable military needs, and the Government has declared that it does not intend to restrict any legitimate news, Newspapers are publishing at real size, and there is no curtailment of news from independent sources. Nor has fair criticism of Government policy been restricted.
All broadcasting stations have remained on the air. and additional Overseas news has been made available through the rebroadcasting of special news bulletins from the B.B.C. No restriction has been imposed on radio reception, and anyone with the necessary equipment is at liberty to lister to broadcasts from any part of the world—Germany included, Two reasons seem to account for this policy. The first is the belief ihat no suppression of the truth is necessary to justify the British cause. The second was clearly set out in a recent speech by the Prime Minister, in which he declared that it was idle to take up arms in defence of democratic freedom if, under the stress of war, we abandoned at home the very things that we were fighting for.
While the Government holds that opinion, ce-operation between the censor and those engaged in providing the public with accurate and reliable news should not be difficult to maintain.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.