§ MR. JOHN ELLIS (Nottinghamshire, Rushcliffe)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been drawn to certain Minutes published in the Natal Witness, which have passed between the Prime Minister of Natal, the Governor, General Murray, and Sir Redvers Buller respecting the detention, opening, and suppression of letters and documents passing through the Post Office by the Censorship Department, and especially to the observation of the Prime Minister of Natal that the opening of private letters had been indiscriminate and unnecessarily rigorous and inquisitorial; whether he is aware that the Governor expressed by Minute agreement with his Ministers; whether, inasmuch as the matter has thus become public in Natal, these and any other Minutes on the subject which have passed between the Prime Minister and Governor of Natal and the generals referred to will be laid upon the Table of the House; and whether he will lay upon the Table any documents which have been issued by the Government, or those responsible in South Africa, prescribing or dealing in any way with the manner in which the censorship of telegrams or letters should be carried out in South Africa or elsewhere.
§ *MR. WYNDHAMThe Secretary of State has no objection whatever to the publication in this country of the documents which have been published in Natal. I do not know whether the hon. Member has seen the correspondence.
§ MR. JOHN ELLISYes, I have it. Will the hon. Gentleman answer the last paragraph of my question?
§ *MR. WYNDHAMThat should be addressed to the Foreign Office, as the general question of censorship is a much larger one, and refers to more than one Department.
§ MR. JOHN ELLISI will put a question to the First Lord of the Treasury.