§ Mr. Eldon Griffithsasked the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications (1) by what authority he ordered the jamming of radio broadcasts from a radio station operated by non-British persons from a vessel outside British territorial waters;
(2) how many Post Office engineers and other personnel were required to carry out his instruction to jam the broadcasts of an offshore station outwith British territorial waters;
(3) if he will publish the messages from foreign Governments and broadcasting agencies requesting him to jam the broadcasts from Radio North Sea;
(4) if he is aware that the jamming signal transmitted by Post Office engineer; on either side of wavelength 190 caused interference in the reception of legitimate broadcasts by stations belonging to members of the European Broadcasting Convention; by what authority he caused these spurious emissions in the medium and short-wave bands; and if he, will cease interfering with the legal-male radio listening of licence holders.
§ Mr. Stonehouse:The pirate has been seriously interfering first with normal marine communications and then with listeners to legitimate broadcasts in Norway and Italy. This is contrary to our own laws and the International Telecommunication Convention, which bans broadcasting from ships and harmful interference to authorised radio services. We took action in concert with the Governments of Norway and Italy to support the Convention and uphold the rule of 118W law. Our own transmissions did not interfere with any authorised station. We used the wavelength assigned to the other countries on their behalf and caused the intruder to move off. I do not propose to disclose details which could assist the pirate.