CO129-581-16 British propaganda in Hong Kong 18-4-1939 - 29-10-1939 — Page 69

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world an accurate picture of what Britain is achieving in the pro-

gress of rearmament, without abandoning her social programme or

relinquishing the individual liberties of her people. There will be

no tampering with the facts or with the truth in any way. The

Foreign Office Publicity Department will confine itself to the

dispassionate statement of essential facts.

In case of war a inistry of Information would become an

essential part of the organisation for war, but in the opinion of

the British Government such a Ministry should never exist in peace-

time. Sir Samuel Hoare, the Home Secretary, recently stated in the

House of Commons that a inistry of Information in peace-time would

savour too much of "the dope factories one sees in other countries.'

In a free country, the press, the films, the radio, and other organs

of opinion can be trusted to give the public full information on

all subjects of public interest.

In time of war circumstances are vastly different, and such a

Iinistry becomes a necessity. For example, in war-time some

measure of censorship is necessary, and so the function of the

Ministry would be partly negative to decide not what the British

-

people should know, but what must not be revealed to the enemy-

but its function would not be wholly negative. It would give to the

whole world, at home and abroad, a true picture of events as they

occurred, and a statement of the ideals for which the British

nation would fight; but the greatest hope of the British people is

that the need for the establishment of such a Ministry will never

arise.