CO885-24 — Page 84

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

› Reference :-

C.O. 885

24 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

|BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAM ZNOT TO

General

Decline in Tolume of correspond-

154

GIBRALTAR.

After a short period, as the conditions imposed by the censorship, which had been notified to Berne, became generally known, the number of telegrams patently not complying with the rules greatly decreased, and the efforts of the censorship here have been largely directed to ascertaining if messages quite within the rules on the face of them contain anything to indicate enemy origin or ultimate destination of the message, or enemy business, whether Government or commercial.

There is no doubt that German houses, after the first period, carried on their correspondence with extra-European neutrals and their own correspondents in such countries through representatives living in adjoining neutral countries, and the difficulty of dealing with this class of message has been referred to in my report to the Chief Censor.

As regards communications between agents of the German Government in We have foreign countries, I think that the censorship has been of use. worked in conjunction with the Naval Intelligence Officer, and have supplied him We with copies of all telegrams to or from persons suspected of being of that class. have obtained names of such persons, partly from information from him and others, partly by assuming the probability that correspondents of suspects are also sus- The extent picious persons, and latterly from a list of German Consular agents. of the value that has attached to the interception of this correspondence can only be known by the Naval Intelligence Department in London.

I gather from the Chief Censor at the War Office that the copies supplied to him of telegrams apparently connected with German business have been of interest, and I am further extending the supply to telegrams which may be of that nature but do not afford sufficiently clear indications to justify us in stopping them. Military telegrams have not been frequent; none conveying naval or military intelligence from Gibraltar have been passed without the approval of the Depart- ment concerned.

The only point which occurs to me as desirable to note for the future is that it would be of great assistance to a censorship to be supplied from the commence- ment with a list of the enemy's Consuls and Consular agents. I think that the list with which we were supplied in this instance some time after the commencement. might have been of considerable use in the earlier stage. It is probable that many telegrams to and from such persons, which complied with the rules, were passed at Such a list could be kept with the commencement through want of information.

the censorship papers and amended from year to year by circular despatch.

Appendix "J" in No. 57.

REPORT ON THE EFFECT OF THE WAR on Gibraltar POSTAL SERVICES, BY THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL, GIBRALTAR.

Up to the period of the war there was a slight increase in the ordinary corres- pondence exchanged in the external service as compared with 1918, which was a record year. The set-back to the growth after August is due to well-known causes which have affected the world at large. The Post Office has not, in common with That there is not a greater decline other services, escaped the effect of those causes. is perhaps due to the changed conditions having been so widespread that they have, mos made up to a certain degree, brought the services of the Post Office into wider use. There was, for example, an extraordinary amount of correspondence arising out of the movements of the troops. Locally these grew in bulk with each succeeding week of troops, die until Christmas, when the mails to and from the United Kingdom were the heaviest

on record.

by general somditione: movement and changes

Increase in registered

articles.

Mions of

venience

The porting of registered correspondence was much heavier than in normal times after the outbreak of war; it is only natural in such times to foresee an In connexion with it a misuse of the increased use of the registration system. pro system was traceable towards the end of the year, when it was found that registered official envelopes were being retailed by certain traders to induce purchasers to complete their purchases. It was a novel method of taking advantage of the present A delay in the conditions to turn over profits, and was open to much abuse. replenishment of these envelopes from the United Kingdom owing to prevailing conditions caused some temporary inconvenience.

155

GIBRALTAR

"Dead" or

There was a large increase in the correspondence dealt with in the Returned Increase of Letter Office; this was due to the large number of articles undelivered or returned “Returned"

Since letters. in both directions from the enemy countries at the outbreak of hostilities. August these were double those obtaining under normal conditions.

The departures and changes in the military establishments throughout the garrison also gave rise to a very large increase in the number of articles to be re- directed.

the value of

Issued.

Notwithstanding the popularity of the postal order system, the abnormal Increase in increase in the money order transactions was due entirely to the war; much advan- money orders tage was taken of this means of remitting at a time when credit and business was' much disorganized. The increase in the money orders issued during August to December rose to £35,000, as against £7,000 during the same period of 1913. They were a quarter more in number. Seeing that money order services were suspended at the outbreak of war by most countries of the Union, these large remittances must have been almost entirely confined to the United Kingdom, and, with the exception An attempt to of one case only, were within the prescribed limits. In the one attempt at evasion of Money Order the Money Order Regulations it was the intention of the sender to sell bills at 3 cent., the increased war risk premium, and to obtain money orders over the limit of £40 under the signature of each of his employees at the rate of 138. 3d. per cent., the rate maintained at the Post Office. This attempt was frustrated, and bills became purchasable locally at 2 per cent, and subsequently at per cent.

per

evade the

Regulations.

not used as

The course adopted by Great Britain of receiving postal orders as currency was Postal orders not advocated in Gibraltar, and these continued to be treated as postal orders only currency. and poundage payable thereon. As an emergency arrangement local Treasury notes Introduction and 10 per cent. in cash were accepted and given in exchange for postal orders and money orders of corresponding value.

of local

Trosaury notes.

parcels.

duced by

The steady increase noticeable in the past few years in the number of postal Decline in the parcels despatched was maintained until July; the decrease was coincident with number of the commencement of the war. There was no attempt to make any greater use of the insurance system to meet the greater risks incurred from August onwards.

So far as any material comparison can be made from the returns, it is to be Articles intro- observed that there are still openings in Gibraltar for British manufactured jewel-parcel post lery in gold and silver and in other metals, as also for silk fabrics, all of which have t hitherto been largely supplied by Germany. A large bulk of this latter consign- ment, however, is of Italian origin, Piedmont silk, with German amistance, being introduced here as much through the two Hanseatic towns of Bremen and Hamburg as via Marseilles. There is as yet no direct parcel post exchange between Gibraltar and Italy.

In the commodities of lesser importation it is noticeable that a large percentage of wearing apparel, cotton and woollen fabrics, indiarubber goods, and pictorial postcards came also from Germany. With the outbreak of war these articles are not arriving in any quantities from other countries.

The advantages afforded by Gibraltar by reason of its central position and of To increase the its being a free port are already greatly taken advantage of. facilities for trade in small articles within the Empire the establishment of what is known as the "cash on delivery system" was brought into operation some few years ago. The conditions are simple, and the service should just now become as popular here as in some other parts of the Empire. There are not signs wanting to justify

this.

Germany,

madis redmond

Morocoo

Gibraltar.

The number of mails received and despatched after the war was less than during Number of the corresponding period of 1913, but in bulk they were considerably larger. but greater in Looking at the geographical position of Gibraltar this was only to be expected. It bulk. was due to a regular supply of mails entrusted to this office by the British postal Transit of agencies throughout Morocco and to the receipt of many foreign mails that unexpec- mala by tedly continued to arrive here from the seat of war, from Belgium and from France, Transit of some of which were of considerable interest. For instance, on the 15th August 81 rails bags of mails were received from France for various places in China and Australia, by Gibraltar. On the 17th August 178 bags were received from France and Spain and from Por- spans and

On the 19th of August 18 bags of mails were received Portage tugal for the Far East.

All Belgian maila from Brussels for various places in the Far East, Cochin China, Annam, etc. of these were observed to be of considerable weight and were dated Brussels, 14th by Gibraltar

Transit of

and of