THE ELUSIVE CENSOR.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 141, 15 June 1923, Page 6

THE ELUSIVE CENSOR.

' ! IS HE TRACKED AT LAST ? I II MINISTER GIVES EXPLANATION. | IBv TclCßrnnh— Preis Assoriation.l WELLINGTON, this day. ' i Who is thd censor ? Does he ban books circulating in Britain ? What becomes i •of the banned books? Are they t ' destroyed or does the censor circulate . them among a privileged few, the censor L determining those fit or unfit to read I such literature? These were some ques- > tions the Hon. Downie Stewart'was ; asked by Mr. D. G. Sullivan (Avon) last I " session/and the Minister of Customs has ; '. replied more or less vaguely as follows: 5 "Under the Customs Act indecent documents within the meaning of the Indecent i Publications Act 1010. are prohibited : from importation. The , Act provides ;! that no prosecution for an offence ' against that Act shall be commenced ! i without leave of the Attorney-General, | • i who would in any case of doubt refer to j ; the office of the Solicitor-General, and | tj that office can therefore be regarded as j the censor. In some cases a book ap- i , I pears on the censored list from the fact j ! that it has been declared indecent by magistrates after police prosecution, i I This is quite possible owing to the fact j that Parliament had laid clown certain ' .definitions of prohibited literature which were binding on the censor. Banned 1 • books were permitted to be exported if j i application were made. They were not ' ] circulated to a privileged few, except ; possibly where the censor desires advice j , in confirmation of his own judgment, j The Minister further stated that it was j ' ; hoped to make a satisfactory arrange- , | ment whereby the booksellers would be I informed of the names of books on the 3 1 black list, so as to avoid the seizure of -books imported in good faith. If books are banned by the censor they are rej ga*ded as indecent. The notice of r i seizure sets forth clearly the ground of I detention. The whole question of cenIsorship is under consideration, but _ I legislation ma} r be required to carry out certain possible alterations. The Crown j j Law Office advise in many doubtful cases j .. whether a document is within the prohibi- j i j tion, and that advice is acted upon