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time of war under censorship from the seat of war. It was to be put in force by Order in Council, and applied to the whole of the British Isles.

6. This draft Bill was referred to the Newspaper Society, which took strong exception to the restrictive clauses. As a result of this objection the Bill was redrafted in the following form :--

"Whilst this Act is in force no information with respect to the movements or dispositions of the troops, ships, or war material, or to the strategic plans of the naval and military authorities, or to any works or measures undertaken for or connected with the fortification or defence of the country, and no statement, comment, or suggestion calculated directly or indirectly to convey any such information, shall be published, except where the information is furnished by the Admiralty or the Army Council, or is sent during a time of war under censorship from the seat of war.'

*

This Bill has, however, never been submitted to Parliament, and the situation remains unchanged.

7. The need of statutory power for the control of the Press in times of emergency is as urgent now as ever. It seems essential that it should exist in normal times so that it may be exercised at a moment's notice; for, if the presentation of the Bill to Parliament were delayed until the emergency actually arose, much mischief might be done by the Press in the short time which must necessarily elapse between the occurrence of the emergency and the passage of the measure through all its legislative stages. No appeal to the patriotism of newspaper proprietors would be likely to have much effect in this age of competition, and even if the proprietors were themselves animated with the most patriotic motives, their want of technical knowledge would often lead them to disclose inadvertently important naval and military information. During the period of mobilization prior to the commencement of the Franco-Prussian War the French authorities were much embarrassed by the action of the Press, and on the 25th July, 1870, the French Journal Officiel" stated that "Contrary to the prohibition of the Government, certain journals continue to give news of military movements, to the great detriment of the national cause. The Government hoped that their appeal to their patriotism would have been heard and it would regret being forced to apply the law."

8. Whether an Act is passed before or after the occurrence of a national emergency, some machinery will be required to enable the Admiralty and the Army Council jointly to issue information to the Press. Unless there is the closest co-operation between the two departments, items of intelligence may be issued by the one which the other may desire to keep secret. It has, therefore, been suggested that a joint Admiralty and War Office Bureau should be established to deal with the issue of information to the Press in time of war.

General Staff, March 22, 1910.

(C.)

Control of

DRAFT OF A BILL TO PROVIDE

PUBLICATION OF NAVAL AND CASES OF EMERGENCY.

FOR THE CONTROL OF THE MILITARY INFORMATION IN

BE it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows :—

1.-(1.) While this Act is in force no information with respect to movements or publication dispositions of troops, ships, or war material, or to the strategic plans of the naval or of naval and military authorities, or to any works or measures undertaken for or connected with the military information fortification or defence of the country, and no statement, comment, or suggestion calculated directly or indirectly to convey any such information, shall be published, except where the information is furnished by the Admiralty or the Army Council or is sent during a time of war under censorship from the scat of war.

while the Act is in

force.

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