FATE OF THE CENSORSHIP.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 271, 13 November 1909, Page 7

FATE OF THE CENSORSHIP.

• 1 (From -Our Special Correspondent.) , LONDON, October 1. i The fate of the Censor of Plays win be decided ere long. The Joint Commit- ■ tee which has been inquiring into the duties of his office has finished taking 1 evidence, and will meet in a week or ' two to consider its report. Probably it ' will recommend that the censorship shall ' be retained, and that the office shall be ' reconstituted and made a Government department, thus removing the autocratic features which have made it intolerable . to many dramatic authors. It has been a jnost interesting inquiry, ' 1 and some of fche best brains in England have contributed to the discussion on dTa-matic 'liberty. The .most prominent upholders of the Censor have been Sir •Herbert Tree, Sir W. S. Giibert, Mr, : George Alexander, Sir Squire Bancroft, j i and Mr. Forbes Robertson. He has had some distinguished opponents, nota-bly J Mr. Bernard Shaw, Mr. Granville Barker, ! Ifr. John Galsworthy, and Professor Gilbert Murray, representing the advanced school of dramatic authors; Mr. William i Archer, Sir- Arthur Pinero, Mr. J. M. Barrie, Mr. Zangwill, Mr. Hall Came, and Mr. G. K. Chesterton. Ail these are opposed to the censorship. All the theatrical managers, on the -other hand, i with the exception of Mr. G-ranvillij Barker, appear to have favoured ! retention of the Censor, and their strong r : argument was that it was better to havtj j ■ their plays .brought before a Censor in. 1 London than to submit them to thq tender'mereies of every provincial Town Council to whose town they might ba : taken. ' ; j Many obiter dicta have been written j by eminent witnesses in the course of the inquiry. Here are a few:— I would trust twelve ordinary men, but I would not trust an ordinary man.— j Mr G. K. Chesterton. i I Dramatists are divided into three class- j es—pioneers, plain men, and pornograph- i ers.—Mr Zangwill. I Virtue triumphant is my income.—Mr j Cecil Raleigh. j Current morality should be able to take I care of itself.—The Bishop of Southwark. ! In matters of taste I have great con- j fidence in the British people. lam ! J speaking not of the fashionable stallhold- j I ers, but of the mass of the people, espe- ' cially of those who are to be found in ! the front two rows of the pit and the back row, of the stalls.—Mr W. L. Courtney. If the theatre is to be given over to the light, bright and amusing drama, I for one shall buy a broom and b?come a crossing-swepper.—Mr Hall Came. The censor keeps serious drama down Ito the level of his own intelligence, and I probably lower; while he does not even j pretend to keep the lighter drama up to j the level of his own morality.-—Mr William Archer. There is nothing to be gained by treating the public as children.—Mr Granville Barker. In a novel, when you write that Eliza slipped off her dressing gown and stepped into her bath, there is no objection to it, but if it were represented on the ■ stage it would be a very different thing. !— Sir W. S. Gilbert. I