HC Deb 03 July 1902 vol 110 cc699-700
MR. MARKHAM

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies, why special privileges are accorded to Mr. Moneypenny, the Johannesburg correspondent of The Times, which enables this gentleman to cable freely to The Times; and whether ho will ask the authorities in South Africa for an explanation why they allowed The Times correspondent to cable certain statements relating to the views of General L. Botha on the suspension of the Capo Constitution which General Botha has since stated are untrue, while the authorities refused to allow the correspondents of certain London papers to cable a report of a letter of Lord Milner published in the Cape Argus paper advocating the suspension of the Constitution.

MR. BRODRICK

I have no information on this matter, and I am not prepared to make any enquiries on the subject. So long as the censorship continues, it must be administered locally in South Africa.

MR. MARKHAM

Is the reason why the correspondents of certain London newspapers have not been allowed to cable because they held, in the words of the right hon. Gentleman's Department, "anti-British views"?

MR. BRODRICK

I have no information on the subject. If from the beginning I had to ask about every particular telegram that came through, I should take up the whole time of the authorities in South Africa.