There hasbeen considerable speculation as to the meaning of the mark—a capital "A" and a small "e" in a circle—appearing on apparently uncensored mail from Nazi-occupied territory. This symbol has been seen on covers from Vienna as well as the Netherlands and Norway Wherever it occurs there is no further evidence of German censorship. Naturally, it is assumed that the letters have been read or checked by authorities before being i Lately, another such symbol, larger and in red ink instead of black, turns up on second-class mail from Berlin, directed via Siberia. This one shows a capital "A" with a small "b. Since it has not been possible to determine, from authoritative sources, the true meanings of these two marks, one can only speculate as it significance.
From the latest censorship marks on letters out of the Netherlands Indies, one is able to learn just how long the board there takes to pass them. Having been slit along the side, read and then sealed by the brown-gummed label which reads "Door Censuur Geopend," the sequently stamped by the censor's cancellation. mark" which gives the complete date as well as the hour when "passed." Checking the lapse of time between depositing at the post office and sending off is therefore simple. One cover arriving in New York recently shows a delay of three days before actual release for mailing.
A new warning appears as a on metered mail from Sydney, Australi Don't Write About Ships."
Censors are consistently cautious about letting through names of places, no matter in what connection. An English woman lately received a tetter from London in which the writer rather carelessly mentioned the base to which her husband was going to be transferred. This name, of course, was carefully cut out. What surprised the recipient no end, however, was the censor's filling in, on the other side of the sheet of paper, the word which was missing there.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.