PUBLICATION OF DESPATCHES

HL Deb 14 July 1915 vol 19 cc409-12

LORD WEARDALE had the following Question on the Paper—

To ask His Majesty's Government, whether there is any reason why the system hitherto prevailing, of avoiding or delaying, the publication of despatches interesting to the country in general and particularly to the families of the gallant troops engaged in the operations, should he maintained in the case of the Egyptian Campaign, and that the important despatches of the General Commanding relative to the attacks upon the Suez Canal February and March should not now be published.

The noble Lord said: My Lords, my object in rating this Question is, in the first place, to elicit from the Government some statement as to the system governing the publication of despatches and the communication of important news to the public. We are aware that under the late Administration we lived under a system of "wait and see," and we have waited a long time without seeing many things of supreme importance which we think might have been seen without any inconvenience to the Government to the military authorities. In framing this Question I have been guided by the very natural condition that one must, not expect the publication of any information that could reasonably be supposed to be of advantage to they. No doubt it may be said, in ret to certain incomplete operations in various parts of the world, such as the Persian Gulf, East Africa, the Cameroons, and other places, that there would probably be inconvenience in giving very careful particular; but with regard to the attacks the Tuikish forces upon the Suez Canal in the early Months of this year, it surely cannot be contended that those operations have not been closed for the time being at any rate, whatever may be the imminence of danger at a later period. I think we may fairly ask that the report of tine distinguished General who commands in Egypt the British Force which so valiantly repelled the Turkish invaders should now be communicated to the public. There surely can be nothing in that despatch which cap afford any information of a useful character to the enemy. On the other hand, it seems to me very unfair to the families whose sons and relatives have been engaged in those operations that no information whatever is given to the public of the valiant deeds that they performed. Therefore I think we have sonic ground for asking the War Office, whether there is to be in future any relaxation of the very rigid rule as regards the publication of these documents, and whether they do not think that the tithe has come to take the public a little more into their confidence and give them a little more information. It seems to me that we have been treated throughout this terrible war as if we were a nation of hysterical children who were afraid to be told the truth. That is not My opinion of the British people. I believe that the more we are told the truth, even if it he altogether unpleasant to hear, the more we should set our teeth and be determined to early this war to a successful concluaion. Therefore I press on the Government that. the time has come when they should be a little more thoughtful of the public requirements in the matter of information, and that they should now publish all the despot lies that without substantial inconvenience can he communicated to the public, and I make special reference to the despatch relative to the doings of our Expeditionary Force in Egypt

THE PAYMASTER-GENERAL (LORD NEWTON)

My Lords, the official view with regard to the publication of reports and despatches is as follows. Reports of military operations; are tendered from time to time by officers in independent command in the field. These are primarily professional in character and for trill information of the superior military authorities, and they are net published unless the operations are on a considerable scale and the results really substantial. The necessity for the observance of this rule lies in the fact that the publication of a so-called despatch, as distinguished from a report, gives it great military importance, and care has to he taken that operations are not endowed by the fact of publication with importance beyond their real military value. Especially at a time when the theatres of war are as numerous as they are at the present moment, care must la, exercised to secure a due proportion amongst the operations under the various commands. Publication for the purpose of informing the public is occult in the loan of communications from time to time to t lie Press at various stages in the progress of t he operations. These communications are based upon the telegraphic reports received from the commanders.

The long and short of this is that the primary object of the reports and despatches is to explain to the Government the progress of military operations from the professional point of view rather than to afford information to the public. I would like to call attention to the following extract from the Field Service Regulations— It will rest with the responsible Government acting upon the advice of the Commander-in-Chief to determine what reports and despatches are not to be made public, and the manner in which those to be published we to be made generally known. I am afraid that the reply which I have given is not likely to find much favour in the eyes of my noble friend or in all probability in the eyes of that portion of the Press which, apparently, considers that one of the objects of the war is to increase the circulation of their organs. But I think I may take upon myself to remind my noble friend that the whole tendency of modern warfare is in the direction of reticence, and if there is one thing which must be more carefully avoided than anything else it is the danger, as the noble Lord himself admitted, of giving information to the enemy; and I believe that even in this Assembly, which I suppose is one of the most reticent in the world, some unguarded remarks have fallen which might possibly have been of some use to the enemy.

As to the statement of the noble Lord that information is withheld front the public and that the public is treated as a mass of hysterical children, I would like to point out that as far as the communication of news goes the British public is in a much better position than is, so far as I am aware, the public of any other country. It is not the practice of other Governments to issue any communiqués or reports or despatches beyond an extremely threadbare daily announcement, and a long compilation prepared by the General Stall which appears many months after the war is concluded. At any rate, the British public gets a good deal more information than does the public of any other country; and I think the statement which I have just made will be borne out by my noble friend, who has a better acquaintance with the Continent than, perhaps, any other Peer present this afternoon.

There is another circumstance to which I should like to refer. We are not waging this war single-handed, and that being so it must be perfectly obvious that in the publication of despatches or reports the views of the Allies must be taken into consideration, just as in the preparation of a Blue Book the views of the Governments concerned have to be considered. I an admit that this, perhaps, does not apply so strongly in the case of the. Egyptian campaign, because that campaign has been carried on with a very small participation on the part of any of our Allies. But I would remind my noble friend that there have been no less than six long communiqués with regard to the actions to which he referred. These appeared in the Press here on February 3, 5, and 8, and on March 15, 22, and 29. Therefore with regard to these particular operations my noble friend has not a very strung cause for complaint. At the conclusion of his remarks my noble friend expressed what. I trust may be a correct opinion, that the operations in that part of the world had finally terminated; but I cannot help thinking that it would be somewhat rash to make any assumption of that character. In view of this mid in view of the facts which I have stated, the Secretary of State is of opinion that it is not advisable at present to publish any further information with regard to the actions which took place on the Suez Canal in the months of February and March.