Your telegram 10th April. [1] Dominions Office advise as follows-
Difficulties concerning suppression of news of movements of the
QUEEN MARY and MAURETANIA arise from circumstances beyond the
control of Allied censorship authorities.

When such vessels call at neutral ports, it must be accepted that
news must be available to the enemy and no attempt to suppress
within Allied territories will prevent this. When such information
has been made public abroad, it is not the practice of the United
Kingdom censorship to suppress repetition by the United Kingdom
press or B.B.C. provided that it is made clear that the report
comes from neutral and not Allied source. To a certain extent, the
information will consist of facts such as the arrival which is
easily verifiable by the enemy; to a larger extent it will consist
of unconfirmed inferences, distorted or exaggerated. The most
which Allied censorship can accomplish is to refrain from
confirmation or correction of such reports.

In the case of the QUEEN MARY and the MAURETANIA, departures from
New York with attending circumstances had obvious implications,
confirmed by the arrival of the MAURETANIA at Panama and Honolulu,
but relevant facts leading to these inferences could not be
suppressed.

There remains an essential difference between allowing the B.B.C.

or Press to repeat such facts or rumours from neutral sources,
which are already available to the enemy, whose reliability and
accuracy he must assess and verify himself, and authorizing
statements by Empire sources not available to him or with Empire
authority. It is of course the intention that any news of the
arrival at or departure from ports within the jurisdiction of
Allie[d Governments] [2] should be rigorously suppressed.

In view of the special reliability in this connection of news from
Australian sources, His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom
feel that it would be most undesirable if information from
Australian sources relating to the presence of these ships and
escorts in Australian waters were to be permitted. It will be
noticed that no reference to the QUEEN MARY has been made since
her departure from New York.

Above should be regarded also as a reply to your telegram to
Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, No. 100 of 18th March
[3], to which it was not appreciated that any reply was required
until receipt of telegram 131 of 9th April. [4]

BRUCE