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207 Mr S. M. Bruce, High Commissioner in London, to Mr R. G. Menzies, Prime Minister

Cablegram unnumbered LONDON, 3 May 1940, 1.24 p.m.

SECRET

Your telegram of 30th April [1]: Dominions Office advises as
follows [2]-

'Report by British Broadcasting Corporation was based on Reuter
message from Capetown, and similar report had already been
broadcast from New York on previous day. As the report was very
circumstantial, including reference to visit to the liner by the
Governor-General of South Africa [3], British Broadcasting
Corporation, who were of course not aware of the real whereabouts
of the liner, broadcast it in good faith. On receipt of
representations from the New Zealand Government the report was
omitted from later broadcasts. The report was also published in
the United Kingdom press, some of whom had received [it] from
their own correspondents at Capetown.

The United Kingdom Government appreciate the importance of
maintenance of the reputation for reliability of British
Broadcasting Corporation news but questions of great difficulty
arise. It would be possible for enemy agents to start rumours in
any part of the world and note. though travels freely about the
world outside the United Kingdom censorship, it is either
suppressed when it comes under the control of United Kingdom
censorship [4] or is not included in the broadcasts issued by the
B.B.C., although otherwise published freely in the press of this
country. There is little doubt of the German authorities starting
rumours and making claims that are untrue in the hope that they
may check their lack of knowledge by drawing a denial from the
United Kingdom Government. It is generally the United Kingdom
policy to prevent adding to the enemy's knowledge in this way and
they consider that it would be most regrettable if they were to
do, by interference by censorship or by suppression of B.B.C.

announcements, what they are careful to avoid doing explicitly by
official statements or denials.

From the above it will be seen that the news had been released
from Capetown and had already reached other parts of the world
outside the British Empire, in particular New York, and had been
re-broadcast from there before reaching London. In these
circumstances there would have been no point in suppressing the
news by the United Kingdom censorship as the information would
already have been received by the enemy from neutral sources.

Enquiries are being made in South Africa as to the reason for
allowing the despatch of this report but it is possible that the
report was only released by South African censor when it was known
that the information had already reached neutral countries, as it
appears from another press cable which was apparently not noticed
by B.B.C. or the press that the New York Herald Tribune stated the
QUEEN MARY was in Capetown on 3rd April. It will be appreciated
that the action of the censorship authorities in London was in no
way a reversal of their policy not to release news about the
arrival or departure of British ships at or from ports within the
jurisdiction of allied censorship. The report in question is not
the first misleading report about the whereabouts of these liners
that has reached United Kingdom from a British source; in fact the
press of 13th April published in [sic] Stefani reports from Rome
based on telegram from Ottawa to the effect that the QUEEN MARY in
Halifax to embark Canadian troops for Europe. Enquiries are being
made in Canada as to the reason for the release of report but
meanwhile in accordance with the principles mentioned above no
attempt was made to censor the report in the United Kingdom.

Please supply copy of this correspondence to the United Kingdom
High Commissioner. [5]

BRUCE

1 Document 189.

2 No closing quotation mark appeared in the original document.

3 Sir Patrick Duncan.

4 The first part of this sentence was mutilated in transmission.

In the original the words here reproduced in italics were
underlined and marked 'as received'.

5 Sir Geoffrey Whiskard.


[FA: A3195, 1.2940]
Last Updated: 11 September 2013
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