The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-08-18
ENGLAND EXPLAINS
 DELAY OF THE MAILS
One to Three Days Necessary for Examination of Postal
 Bags, It Is Said.

liners passing through her waters In such a, way as to cause the least pos- sible delay and inconvenience to neu- trals is again set forth in a state ment by the British Foreign Office, re- ceived here through official sources yesterday.
 At the same time the statement shows how injurious are the attempts made by the Central Powers to use neutral mails to their advantage and the disadvantage of the Allies, and how difficult has been the examina- tion of the mail to thwart these at tempts without some measure of in convenience to neutPals. The state ment says:
 Tt is admitted that at the outset neutral correspondence in which en- emy interests were in no way. con- cerned was subjected to delay which is greatly regretted and which has since been reduced to a minimum. It must not be imagined that the mails were removed from neutral ships for examination without careful consid- eration of the arrangements which would be required to deal with them as quickly as possible. All prepara- tions which seemed necessary were with this object, but unfortunately, those responsible for them were not aware of some of the difficulties which would be encountered.
 For instance, there was no reason to suppose that Gas proved to be the easel mail bags marked as dispatched from one neutral country to another neutral country would contain noth- ing but mails for or from an enemy country; that bags represented as con- taining printed matter would contain rubber. coffee, jewelry, &c., some- times disguised as newspapers. as we'll as correspondence of all kinds, registered and unregistered, or that persons writing to or from enemy countries would already have adopted the practice of sending their letters under cover to intermediates in neu- tral countries, or that great numbers of complete sacks appearing to con- tain merely business circulars from neutral countries would contain in reality nothing but propaganda from Germany under covers bearing neu- tral postage stamps. These and sim- liar unforeseen pecularities made 1t impossible, until the staff engaged had been largely increased and had become accustomed to them, to se- lect on any fixed principle those mail bags which, when all could not be examined within a reasonable period, should be forwarded without exam ination
 '"The delay of shipping documents carried by the same ship as the cargo to- which they refer can be, and has been in some cases, avoided by the simple 'expedient of inclosing such doc uments in specially marked bags. Table Showing Delay to Mails "The delay to which ordinary neu- tral mails are at present subjected as a result of the censorship varies accord ing to their origin and destitution. The following examples refer to United States mails, but the treatment of other neutral mails can also be in- ferred from the details given: Mails from United States to Holland (a) If not removed from the ship by which they were dispatched: Ar rive Falmouth June 1, leave Kirkwall l June 4, arrive Rotterdam June 6; to- tai days.
 | (b) If removed from the ship by which they were dispatched: Arrive Falmouth June 1, received in Lon don June 1, Cor 3:30 a. m. June 9, dispatched after examination, at ear 1 Hest June 2, at latest June 5; arrive Rotterdam, at earliest June 8, at lat est June ', (extra day allowed, as ! there is no dispatch to Holland on 1 three, days in the weekly total, mini mum, 2 days; maximum, 7 days.
 Mails from Holland to United States { (a) If not removed from the snip by which they were dispatched: Ar rive Kirkwall June 1, leave Falmouth June 4, arrive New York June 12; total 12 days.
 | (b) If removed from the ship by which they were dispatched: Arrive Kirkwall June 1, received in London June 8; dispatched after examination, at earliest June 1, at latest June 5; arrive New York, at earliest June 13, at latest June IA; total, minimum, Ia days; maximum, 14 days.
 Mails to Scandinavia
 Mails from United States to Denmark 1 (a) If not removed from the ship by which they were dispatched: Ar rive Kirkwall June 1, arrive Copen- hagen June 4; total. days.
 | (b) If removed from the ship by which they were dispatched: Arrive Kirkwall June 1, received in Lon- don June. 3; dispatched after exam ination at earliest June 4, at latest June T; arrive Copenhagen, at earliest June ', at latest June 10; total, mini mum, z days; maximum, 10 days.
 Malls from Denmark to United States
 (a) If not removed from the shin by which they were dispatched: Ar rive Kirkwall June 1, arrive New York June II; total, Il days.
 (b) If removed from the ship ,by which they were dispatched: Arrive Kirkwall June 1; received in London June 3; dispatched after examination
 at earliest June 4, at latest June 5; arrive New York. at earliest June IS at latest June 15; total, minimum II days; maximum, Is days.
 ''The above figures are based or the experience of the last two months
 but so far as they relate to the sail. ings and duration of voyages of the ] ships concerned, they cannot be ab. solutely vouched for, owing to altera. tions and uncertainties to which movements of all ships are constantly subject.
 No Examination at Kirkwau
 '1t has been suggested that con. siderable delay would be avoided ii mails landed at KirkwaI were exam. ined at and dispatched from that nor,