News from the Services
It is revealed by the House of Commons Select Committee on National Expenditure that while the staff employed by the Press Division of the Admiralty consists of go persons, the Air Ministry employs a Public Relations staff of 285 and the War Office of no fewer than 791. So it appears that the "silent Service," though its units are operating in all the seas of the globe, only employs one Public Relations officer, to more than eight employed by the Army. It has not escaped general notice that the Air Ministry, the youngest of the Service departments, makes a practice of giving news quickly and in great detail, and even on days of big combined operations its communiqués generally fill more space in the newspapers than those dealing with land or sea fighting. Of course, the lateness, if not the brevity, • of communications about naval engage ments is often due to the risk of giving information to the.m.rnt The Select Committee does not omit to notice an element of competition between the three information services, which it describe' as unnecessary, wasteful and harmful. It urges co-operation, ibt elimination of wasteful competition, and a balanced output of news stories by each, and to this end recommends the formation of a general staff committee for publicity. The naval service undoubtedly errs on the side of modesty. Engagements are taking place even day at sea, and more often than not nothing whatever is heard of them ; many acts of daring and skill which do credit to British arms are never revealed to our own public or to our Allies. It is not surprising that the Russians do not fully recognise the great part the Navy is taking in the war. As for the staff employed by the War Office, it is difficult to see why its moderate supply of information should require so numerous a personnel. Machinery such as is proposed for working out a common programme of news presentation is desirable not only with a view to economising staff, some of which, it is suggested, may prove redundant, but in order that we may have a balanced picture of the war in all its aspects.
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