Mr. LLEWELYN WILLIAMSasked the Prime Minister whether he is aware that the "Times" yesterday published dispatches from two correspondents at Amiens to the effect that the British Expeditionary Force had met with "defeat and disaster," and that the British regiments had been "broken to bits"; that the Secretary of State for War issued during the day a reassuring bulletin contradicting these sensational messages; that the Press Bureau warned the public against such statements, because "there are no correspondents at the front, and the information is derived at second and third hand from persons who are often in no condition to tell coherent stories, and are certain to be without the perspective 373 which is necessary to construct or understand the general situation"; and whether, having regard to the untold pain and anxiety caused by the dissemination of such misleading statements, the Government will return to the time-honoured practice of this country and allow Press correspondents to accompany our Army to the front?
§ The PRIME MINISTERIt is impossible too highly to commend the patriotic reticence of the Press as a whole from the beginning of the War up to this moment. The publication to which my hon. Friend refers would appear to be a very regrettable exception. I trust and believe that it will not recur. I doubt whether my hon. Friend's suggestion is the best way under the altered conditions of modern warfare of dealing with the matter. The Government feel, after the experience of the last two weeks, that the public is entitled to be impatient for prompt and authentic information of what is happening at the front, and they have to-day made arrangements which they hope will be more adequate.
§ Lord ROBERT CECILMay I ask whether the dispatches and letters which were published in the "Times" yesterday were submitted to the Press censorship, and were they passed by the Press Censor, and if so, why?
§ The PRIME MINISTERI believe they were.
§ Mr. HOGGEIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that in various parts of the country, particularly in Edinburgh, some newsboys have been sent to prison and fined for calling out false news in the streets, and is it proposed to take any action with regard to the "Times"?
§ The PRIME MINISTERNo.
§ Sir COURTENAY WARNERMay I ask whether the right hon. Gentleman noticed the poster that was issued by the "Observer" yesterday, which was more alarming and a greater offence than any of the others?
§ The PRIME MINISTERI was not here. I did not see it. It may become necessary, of course, to ask the House to pass 374 some drastic form of legislation. I should! be very loath to impose it until the urgency has actually arrived.
§ The PRIME MINISTERThe matter can be raised on the Adjournment.
§ Lord ROBERT CECILI should like to press for an answer to the question as to why the Press Censor passed it.
§ The PRIME MINISTERI cannot say. I have no responsibility in the matter. The Noble Lord can raise it on the Adjournment.