CUT BY CLERKS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 46, 24 February 1937, Page 19

CUT BY CLERKS.

CENSORED MAGAZINES.

XOT "tOVERS*.MENT OFFICERS

"Customs officers in Auckland have j not tlie time to sit about with scissor:-; cutting out undesirable portions in ' magazines;.'' said the Collector of Cus- ! toms at. Auckland, Mr. J. Mcintosh, j commenting on the recent remit of the i Now Zealand Library Association sug- i •jesting that the attention of the Govern- j mcnt lie drawn to the unnecessary muti- | latiou of magazines. A delegate to the i conference, Mr. 10. J. Bell, of Canterbury, ! stated that he had ascertained from a ; reliable source that the mutilation was : carried out by any ordinary Customs clerk. Mr. MoTntosh said that by "Customs clerk" the delegate meant a clerk employed in the office of the importers of the magazines. Officers employed by the Government specified what might be regarded as indeccnt, and the onus to remove such matter rested with the importers. Tf the importers did not move in the matter the Minister of Customs decided whether the books were to be destroyed or returned to America. That, at least, was the system followed in Auckland. In many cases, said the collector, the publishers in America had already removed advertisements likely to be regarded as indcccnt in New Zealand.