§ Mr. LAWSONasked the Chief Secretary whether the newspaper reporters attending the inquiry into the Mallow shootings were forbidden to telegraph their reports of the proceedings until such reports had been censored; and, if so, the reason for this action?
§ Sir H. GREENWOODI am informed that there was no censoring of the newspaper reports of the case, but that the Court refused to allow the report of evidence given in support of the allegations against the police to be issued until a statement of the case for the defence was also available. This restriction was imposed in order to prevent the prejudicing of public opinion by the publication of an incomplete and one-sided report, and in the circumstances I am sure the House will agree that it was a fair and reasonable restriction. There was, however, no deletion of any part of the report of the proceedings relating to either side of the case. I would remind the House that Mallow is in the martial law area, and that the Military Court has control over its own procedure.