§ Mr. Leachasked the Minister of Information if the censorship now in force for over two years under S.R. & O., No. 2295, against the publication in this country of four journals issued by the International Bible Students' Association may now be removed in view of the fact that they do not contain, and never have contained, any anti-war or subversive matter and circulate freely in U.S.A., Australia, Canada, South Africa and India.
181W
§ Mr. BrackenThe restriction imposed by the Order to which the hon. Member refers was not on the publication in this country of these four journals but on their export to destinations overseas. The hon. Member asserts that these journals have never contained any anti-war or subversive matter, but there may be others who take a different view. Certainly they have advocated stubbornly pacifist doctrines. I am not prepared to say that the Government should reverse the decision they made in 1942 to prohibit the import of these papers. At that time as many as 50–60 bags of literature produced by this Association were occupying shipping space each week. This is but one of the facts which need to be remembered.