1. Sir HERBERT ROBERTSasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he is aware of the action taken by the military censors in France in regard to letters written in the Welsh language by Welsh soldiers serving at the front; whether his attention has been drawn to the particular case of a letter written by Private D. A. Jones, 35,250, in Welsh, to a relative in Wales, which was censored upon the ground that a letter written in Welsh is not allowable; and whether he will give an assurance that arrangements will be made which will prevent the censoring of such correspondence in future?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for WAR (Mr. Tennant)The Regulations with regard to censorship of letters written in the Welsh language are quite clear and satisfactory. They are as follows:
All ranks in France have been informed that letters are permitted to be written in the Welsh language and this privilege has been made known in Wales through the vernacular Press.
1955 Letters written in Welsh do not differ from letters in any other language in regard to liability to censorship. They may be censored either regimentally or, if contained in the green envelope, at the Base. In case of difficulty they may be transferred to the London Censorship for examination.
The action of the military censors in France is governed by the censorship regulations for troops in the field. It is there laid down that letters in Welsh which cannot be censored regimentally should be sent under cover to the Chief Postal Censor, War Office. There are censors both at the Base in France and at the War Office, who are able to read letters written in Welsh.
I am obtaining a report upon the particular case to which my hon. Friend draws attention in the question. It will thus be seen that letters written in Welsh are not exempt from censorship, and it is certainly not the case that there is a prohibition against letters being written in Welsh.