HC Deb 23 October 1940 vol 365 cc1038-9
30. Mr. Mander

asked the Minister of Information whether he will consider the advisability of making arrangements to prevent telegrams being sent to neutral countries unless the person concerned has established his bona fides with the local police?

The Minister of Information (Mr. Duff Cooper)

A suggestion similar to that proposed by the hon. Member has been fully considered on several occasions by all the Government Departments concerned. It was decided that any such measure would act in restraint of trade and lawful communication while not substantially increasing security.

Mr. Mander

Is the Minister aware that at the present time anyone can send a telegram to a neutral country, either in his own name or in a purely imaginary name? Is that not a most unsatisfactory state of affairs? Will he consider the question of a person, before he can send a telegram, having to satisfy some authority as to his bona fides?

Mr. Cooper

This question is really a question of security. All those Ministries and Departments responsible for security have thoroughly investigated it on more than one occasion, and are satisfied that it would not be worth while introducing it.

Mr. Garro Jones

As a Member who raised this question before, may I ask whether the Minister is aware that, although the Departments have investigated this question, many persons competent to form a good opinion are thoroughly dissatisfied with the results of the decision? Does he recognise that a telegram sent to a neutral country to-day, having regard to the ramifications of the German secret service, is a telegram sent to Germany, and will he have the matter reconsidered in the light of that fundamental principle?

Mr. Cooper

I would remind the hon. Gentleman that all telegrams sent from this country are subject to censorship and are inspected by the authorities and very carefully investigated. If there are any grounds for suspicion that information is being sent to the enemy, steps are taken. This subject has been so often investigated that I cannot undertake to investigate it again.

Mr. Garro Jones

Has it not been investigated on the basis of a prima facie censorship of telegrams and not with regard to the authenticity of the persons who sent them? Someone who merely looks at a telegram, prima facie, is not able to say whether it is in code or not.

Mr. Cooper

No, Sir, the question has been considered from every point of view by the authorities most competent to form an opinion about it.

Mr. Mander

Could not the Government show the same energy in this matter of security as they have in rounding up aliens?