Rules for the Guidance of Press Censors in Soith Africa
Pretoria
Printed at the Government Printing Works
1901
These rules have been approved by the General Officer Commanding - in - Chief in South Africa, and are issued under the authority of the Director of Military Intelligence, Army Headquarters, Pretoria.
J M Walter
Major,
Acting Censor, Army Headquarters.
Pretoria,
29th May, 1901.
Rules
1. A Press Censor will be posted to every Column and important Station.
TELEGRAMS
2. All telegrams whether Press or Private shall be shown to the Press Censor, and shall only he despatched or delivered when passed by him.
3. Press messages. No hard and fast rules can be laid down regarding the stoppage, detention, or elimination of any portion of a press message. In censoring, the following general principles should he borne in mind:—
Nothing regarding or indicating movements of troops, important orders issued, state of Transport or Supply, future events, nor any matters likely to he of use to or to encourage the enemy should be allowed to pass.
The publication of sensational matter or anything likely to excite political feeling is generally undesirable. Casualties must not be given by name without confirmation.
Messages must be in clear.
4. Where it is possible by emendation to allow an otherwise undesirable message to proceed such emendation must be made so as to in no way alter the sense of a message.
Where much emendation is necessary a sender should be required to re-write the message leaving out the obnoxious portions.
Censors are on no account to add to messages themselves.
5. Messages purporting to quote from or referring to Blue Books may be retained for reference to higher authority.
6. Private messages should be confined to personal or business matters. In the case of a private message being stopped, the sender should be notified of the fact as soon as possible.
7. The following codes may be used in cablegrams to or from South African—
A.B.C. 4th editior
A.Z.
A.1.
Western Union Telegraphs.
Atlantic Cable Directory.
Watkins’. 17th Edition.
Scott’s. 9th Edition.
Mercuur’s. 2nd Edition.
Standt and Hundius.
Broomhall’s.
International Mercantile (Meyers, 1880).
Moreing and McCutcheon’s Mining Code.
Bedford and McNeill’s Mining and Telegraph Code.
Unicode.
Cablegrams expressed in the above codes are subject to censorship, and are accepted at sender’s risk, and may sustain delay in transmission. Senders should supply a translation with a coded message, and both senders and recipients are liable to be called upon to produce to a Censor their Code Book before the dispatch or delivery of a message. In addition to the above, the following banks are permitted to use, subject to above restrictions, private code words in both Cablegrams and Inland Messages to and from the Head Office, or between branches, to represent:—
(1) A sum. of money,
(2) Office of origin.
(3) Authenticity.
Standard Bank.
Bank of Africa.
African Banking Co.
Reuter (banking business only).
National Bank, S.A.R.
Natal Bank.
8. Accredited Consuls. A Consul-General and the accredited Consul of a country are allowed to send messages to one another or to their Government in code or cypher.
9. Private messages other than those coming under paragraphs 7 and 8 must be sent in clear in English, French, Gertman, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, or Latin. Press Censors, however, may refuse any message not in English if the necessary interpreter in the language in which the message is submitted is not available.
10. O.H.M.S. Messages O.H.M.S. may be sent in Code, Cypher, or clear. Telegraph Masters and Assistants should be instructed to satisfy themselves before dispatch of a message purporting to be O.H.M.S, of its authenticity, referring, all doubtful cases to the Press Censor.
11. General. All messages bearing the letters P.B.C. above the text, should have been passed by a Censor. This, however, does not relieve the Censor at an office of delivery of full responsibility in case of the delivery of an improper message. It is the duty of a Censor to satisfy himself of the propriety of every message before passing it for delivery. A message at an office of delivery not bearing the letters P.B.C., showing it to have been previously censored at the office of origin or at a transmitting office should be retained, and a reference made to the office of origin in the case of an inland message, or the coast in the case of a cablegram.
This is very necessary, to prevent telegraph assistants receiving and dispatching uncensored messages.
12. No telegrams, or office copies of telegrams, should be sent by orderlies anywhere.
If it is necessary to show a telegram or cable message to higher authorities, a Censor should take it himself, or send his own copy, but not part with the original or office copy. This is necessary, as all telegrams and cablegrams are the property of the Postmaster-General or a Cable Company, and should not be allowed to be seen or parted with except to those who have officially a right to see them for military or political reasons.
13. A Press Censor will be in attendance daily at some appointed place (the Telegraph Office for choice) at certain fixed hours. He should take every care to prevent the telegraph operators being stopped in their work by reason of delay in censoring.
As any delay in despatch of Press messages is a matter often of serious import, a Press Censor should try as far as possible to arrange to be accessible at a certain hour every evening, not necessarily at the Telegraph Office, to Press Correspondents.
14. Indulgence cables. Officers and men of the South African Field Force and Army Nurses have the privilege of sending oversea cables at reduced rates.
15. No matters dealing with purchase of shares or other financial transactions are allowed in Indulgence Cables.
16. Indulgence Cables will be accepted at any Military Office, whether open for ordinary private work or not.
17. At a station where ordinary private work is not received, an Indulgence Cable must be passed by the Commandant, or an officer acting for him.
18. Censors (or Commandants where there are no Censors) will not receive money paid for Indulgence Cables. Payment will be made in the ordinary way to a Telegraph Clerk.
LETTERS
19. All letters are liable to censorship. Letters addressed to Officers, Soldiers, Army Nurses, recognised Government Officials, and Foreign Consuls are for the present exempted as a general rule.
Letters O.H.M S. are similarly exempted. It must be borne in mind, however, that service covers are readily obtainable, and it is possible that private letters, are from time to time sent in such covers, and improperly franked. It is advisable to occasionally scrutinise and open letters purporting to be O.H.M.S.
20. The proportion of letters that can be opened depends on the strength of the Staff at an office. The larger the proportion, the less the chance of obnoxious and dangerous matter getting through.
Letters addressed to or coming from, disaffected centres in the Cape Colony should be given special attention.
21. Censors should obtain from local military and civil authorities confidential lists of all persons living in their area who are suspected of being hostile, unfriendly, or dangerous. These lists should be kept locked up.
Letters addressed to, or as far as possible coming from such persons should be specially attended to.
22. Every letter opened should be closed before the next one is opened. It should be closed with a Martial Law Label and initialled, and dated by the Censor or Assistant opening it.
23. Every letter passing through a Censor’s Office, whether opened or not, should bear a mark or stamp to show that it has passed. Mail bags should occasionally be opened, to see that other letters have not been slipped in.
24. Letters to and from the United Kingdom and Oversea Colonies may as a rule, be passed unopened.
25. Martial Law Labels and "Passed Censor” stamps should be kept locked up, and a check kept on the issue of the former.
26. Press letters. Press Correspondents’ letters addressed to South African papers must be censored. The rules regarding the censorship of such letters are generally those indicated in Paragraph 3 for dealing with press telegrams.
Press Correspondents' letters to papers in the United Kingdom and Oversea Colonies may be passed unopened as a rule.
In dealing with press messages, telegrams or letters, it must be understood that the Censor is in no way responsible for the accuracy of a message.
A message otherwise unobjectionable, and not purporting to bear official verification of its contents, should not be stopped for the reason that such contents are inaccurate.
27. Letters to the Press emanating from officers and soldiers must be stopped and sent to the Director Military Intelligence.
28. Letters containing undesirable matter or information likely to be useful, should be sent, with a brief memo, indicating portions worthy of note, to the local Intelligence Officer or Provost Marshal, as the case may require, as soon as possible. Where there are not such officers, to the Commandant. Where a registered letter is thus sent, a receipt should be taken.
29. Local men should not be employed as Interpreters more than is absolutely necessary, as it is in their power to cause much social mischief.
Where such men are unavoidably employed, the earliest opportunity, should be taken of getting them transferred to other stations, after reference to the Director Military Intelligence.
NEWSPAPERS, BOOKS, ETC.
30. By post. Newspapers, Periodicals, and Magazines from the United Kingdom and Oversea Colonies coming by post may be passed for delivery at once, with certain exceptions, which will be notified from time to time.
34. South African papers passing through post should be delayed three weeks before delivery.
32. Foreign newspapersgare are not allowed through the post, and should be destroyed.
[N.B.—The above two paragraphs only affect papers addressed to private individuals. Officers, Soldiers, Army Nurses, Government Officials and Consuls may, as a rule, receive newspapers addressed to them at once.]
33. News agents. News agents are given permission from time to time [to] import Home papers and periodicals, with certain exceptions, which will be notified.
Foreign newspapers and periodicals are also allowed in exceptional cases, and subject to censorship.
South African papers are also allowed in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, subject to censorship.
In the Transvaal the Press Censor, Army Headquarters, makes such arrangements that no foreign or South African paper is placed on sale anywhere in the Transvaal without a copy of it having first passed through his hands, the arrangements for distribution being such that an undesirable edition can be entirely withheld from circulation and destroyed.
Similarly in the Orange River Colony the Press Censor will make the necessary arrangements.
English and foreign books and pamphlets may be permitted to come up, subject to censorship and at the newsagent’s risk.
Where a newsagent, receives papers, magazines, etc., by any other medium than the post he should be required to sign an agreement specifying what papers, etc., he intends to import (i.e., for which sanction has been given) and binding himself not to put any South Alrican or foreign paper, magazine, periodical, or book on sale before it has been passed by the Censor.
Source: WO 106/6324
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