Captain BENNasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Government of Jamaica has been instructed by the Colonial Office to prepare and pass immediately a Bill to prevent the publication of misstatements upon matters of public interest and to confer upon the Governor of Jamaica powers to prohibit the importation into the Colony of any newspaper, book, or document which may be considered unsuitable for the public of Jamaica; whether this instruction has been sent to any other dependency of the Grown; and, if not, what special reason exists for sending this instruction to Jamaica?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLNo such instructions have been issued, but the attention of the Governor was drawn in 1919 to certain legislation which had been passed in another Colony for controlling the importation and circulation of seditious publications. I understand from the Press that a law shortly called the "Harmful Publication Prohibition Law" has been recently introduced into the Legislative Council of Jamaica. I have not seen a copy of the Bill, but I will ask the Governor to forward one to me.