Function and purpose
On 7 March 1944, the House of Representatives referred to the Privileges Committee, for report and inquiry, the opening by censors of letters addressed to members of the House. [1] The referral was prompted by Mr Archie Cameron, Member for Barker, who raised the matter in the House on 25 February 1944.
The Committee conducting the inquiry consisted of Mr JJ Clark, Mr HV Evatt, Mr FM Forde (Chairman), Mr EJ Harrison, Mr WJ Hutchison, Mr J McEwen and Mr RT Pollard.
The Committee met on 9, 14-16, 21, 30 and 31 March 1944. At these meetings, the Committee called upon and examined Mr Archie Cameron; Mr Phillip Ettelson, Controller of Postal and Telegraph Censorship, Melbourne and Lieutenant-Colonel Eric Wilson, Chief Field Censor, Victoria Barracks, Melbourne.
On 31 March, the Committee presented to the House their report entitled Report from the Standing Committee of Privileges relating to Censorship of Members' Correspondence, together with the Minutes of Proceedings of the Committee.[2]
The Committee found that:
'(a) the opening by censors of letters addressed to members of the House is not a breach of any existing privilege of the House;
(b) that the evidence negatives any suggestion that the mail addressed to Mr Cameron was subject to any special scrutiny or to any discrimination; no envelopes produced by Mr Cameron indicated any censoring other than of letters posted to him from operational or other prescribed military areas.' [3]
This series comprises one item only. This item appears to be the only Privileges Committee file extant for this particular inquiry.
Relationships with other records
The item in this series was registered into A1842 Correspondence Files, Two Number Series. This series has been registered as a separate series since the Privileges Committee records were maintained as a distinct physical entity by the Privileges Committee secretariat.
Finding aids
The item in this series in the custody of the National Archives as at December 2000 has been entered onto RecordSearch.
Access conditions
The records in this series were authorised for publication on 1 January 2001 by a motion passed by the House of Representatives on 7 December 2000. They were authorised for release to the public by the Speaker of the House of Representatives on 20 December 2000.
End notes
1. Votes and Proceedings, 1943-44 Session, p.80.
2. Votes and Proceedings, 1943-44 Session, p.133. This report was printed. It may be found at Parliamentary Papers, 1943-44 Session, Volume HR1, p.141.
3. Report from the Standing Committee of Privileges relating to Censorship of Members' Correspondence, together with the Minutes of Proceedings of the Committee, 31 March 1944, Canberra, p.3.
Sources
LM Barlin (editor), House of Representatives Practice (3rd edition), Canberra, 1997 as published online at www.aph.gov.au December 2000.