BOOK BURNING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 191, 13 August 1940, Page 5

BOOK BURNING.

AUSTRALIAN ACTION. \ ' - ! CENSORSHIP ACTIVITIES. [(By Air.) SYDNEY, August 10. Twelve months ago no one in Australia would hava dreamed that bookburning would have been possible here. But by National Security Regulations issued on Monday the Federal Government has taken power to dp this; in fact, newspapers stated that one of the main reasons for the regulation was to enable the Federal Government to dispose of literature seized in the raids of June. The same regulations make it an offence to possess "without la'wful excuse" literature belonging to banned organisations. "Lawful excuse" is not defined and once again the onus of proof of innocence is placed on the person instead of the onus of proof of guilt lying with the Crown. Referring to this aspect of the regulation, Miss Freda Lewis, secretary of the New Theatre League, said: "This takes away the last vestige of justice Magna Carta gave to us. It is legalising Fascism, the very thing we are supposed to be at war against. English justice presupposes every man innocent until he is proved guilty. Evidently that is not good enough for Australia." The New Theatre League is appealing to the Federal Government not to burn all the literature seized when the league, which has no political affiliations, was raided on June 16. The literature confiscated included works by. Shakespeare, Shelley, Galsworthy and Bernard Shaw. Miss Lewis said the books and plays seized could not possibly be described as subversive and could be found in any library in the Commonwealth. Lang Cut off the Air. Other activities of the censorship have aroused criticism this week. Mr. Lang, State Leader of the non-Communist A.L.P., was cut off the air at Tamworth this week when speaking in support ofj

his party's candidate in the by-election. He stated iater that he was criticising the Federal Government's handling of defence. Apparently; however, Mr. Lang had not submitted his script to the radio station manager, who evidently did not feel disposed to take a risk when he heard what Mr. Lang was beginning to say. Protests were also made this week against the banning of records of speeches by Labour politicians intended to be used in the by-election campaign. They ,-were banned because they were plentifully sprinkled with cheers and applause whereas, of course, actually the speeches had never been delivered. The chief publicity censor, Mr. P. J. Jenkin, said that this was a dishonest and dangerous practice and would not be allowed. The Sydney "Sun" later printed ex-, tracts from one of the scripts which contained the. following passage: "To-day Australia is- facing a crisis brought about, not by the Australian people, but by the Government which, in the past, supported Chamberlain's policy of appeasement. Let me remind you, my friends, that to-day Chamberlain and Daladier have been condemned by the very people who supported them. (Loud applause.) Who was it who entertained the Nazi spy, Von Luckner? Prominent members of the U.A.P. (Shame)." Despite the unhappy prospect of the first book-burning in free Australia, the Federal Attorney-General (Mr. Hughes) has announced that Fascist literature, including "Mein Kampf," will not be banned "unless it is used for subversive purposes." Mr. Hughes did not explain how anyone could distinguish between subversive and non-subversive reading of a book, but he followed up this announcement by declaring the Australian Youth Council an illegal body. Mr. Hughes said the council was just the Communist party under another name and advised the Reds to think up some new tricks. The fact, however, is that the council is a co-ordinating body representing, among others, the Y.M.C.A., Teachers', Federation, Church of England Fellowship and Australian Labour League of Youth. Miss Freda Lewis said ■ she was unable to believe that subversive .influences could infiltrate such bodies as the "Y.M.C.A., Y.W.C.A., Comrades of St. George, and other church organisa- ' tipns affiliated to the Youth Council."