§ 17. Mr. SWIFT MacNEILLasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that a letter of Mrs. Keegan, 406 of Ballyshannon, county Donegal, directed to her son, James Keegan, of the Innis-killing Fusiliers, a prisoner of war in Germany, enclosing to him, in compliance with his request, a Sacred Heart badge and an Agnus Dei, was returned to Mrs. Keegan by the English censor, who, by way of explanation, enclosed a printed notice that letters to prisoners of war must not contain printed matter or any other enclosure, the last four words being underlined by the censor; whether, having regard to the fact that Mrs. Keegan has two other sons in the British Army, both of whom have been wounded, the one crippled for life and the other fighting again in France, there can be some relaxation in her case of the rule, not of the German, but of the English censor, which forbids a parent to send to her son, a prisoner of war, religious emblems affording him consolation in his captivity; and whether the Government have considered the prejudicial effect such a line of conduct is calculated to produce on enlistment?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONI am not aware of this case, but the facts are no doubt as stated, and I can assure my hon. and learned Friend that there are very sound reasons for imposing such a rule. If in this instance the badge and Agnus Dei are sent by Mrs. Keegan direct to the chief postal censor they will be forwarded by way of exception.