THE MOVING PICTURE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 11, 12 January 1918, Page 6

THE MOVING PICTURE.

INFLUENCE UPON CHILDREN. OPINION OF SOCIAL WORKER. A resolution urging the Government to set up a more vigorous censorship over films which glorify crime and the animal passions in the interests of the young was passed at a conference of teachers in Wellington last week. The Rev. F. R. Jeffreys, First Offenders* Probation Officer for the Auckland District, interviewed on the matter said: — "Speaking from first-hand information and personal observation, I entirely approve of the school teachers' resolution. Recent and numerous cases in the Auckland Juvenile Court completely confirm the necessity of such restrictions as the teachers advocate. "Within the last few months' one of our magistrates found it necessary to wire to Wellington to have a certain film stopped, but even since then I have personally seen films that were quite unfit for children. "The craze of the moving picture is to a certain extent breaking up the love of home life and creating a restless and roving disposition among many young people of the community. One does not wish to deny young people legitimate forms of pleasure within reason, but the amount of money that many homes are spending on picture shows to-day is out of all proportion to the incomes of the homes. "The feature about the picture shows that strikes mc most is the need for greater watchfulness over the hoardings and bill notices outside many of the theatres and on the public hoarding boards of the city. I have often found that these were really far worse than the actual pictures themselves. Another very bad feature is the way in which children attend these places by -themselves, without the escort of adults. It seems to mc that the moving pictures have the remedy of this matter themselves —that is, to refuse admission to any children under a certain age, unless accompanied by their parents or adults. "In my opinion there is urgent and absolute necessity for a Censorship Board of three men and two women to effectively control the large and ever-increas-ing moving picture business of this Dominion. The presence of two representative women, preferably to be selected from the teaching profession, would go a very long way to safeguard the character building of our ohildren."