HC Deb 11 April 1940 vol 359 c728W
Sir A. Wilson

asked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that Messrs. W. H. Smith & Sons, Limited, distribute on sale or return, through railway bookstalls, copies of "Peace News," including advice for objectors; and whether he will consider, in communication with the Minister of Transport, the issue of Defence Regulations which will enable Messrs. W. H. Smith & Sons, and other newsagents, to exercise in the public interest, notwithstanding the terms of their contracts with railway companies, discretion as to the printed matter which they distribute as agents?

Sir J. Anderson

So far as I am aware, the usual licence granted by a railway company to a newsagent does not limit the discretion of the newsagent to refuse to supply any particular publication, but in any event I could not regard a regulation on this subject as necessary for the purpose of the Defence of the Realm.