BOOK IMPORTS

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25797, 7 May 1949, Page 6

BOOK IMPORTS

SIR STANLEY UNWIN ON LICENCES “GOVERNMENT CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS” “I feel that no Country can afford to limit its supply of knowledge, as represented in books—-still less a country so geographically isolated as New Zealand.' said Sir Stanley Unwin, the British publisher, in an interview in Christchurch yesterday. I still maintain that books are entitled to be treated quite differently from other commodities, as they are the mental and spiritual food of the people. , , , . "We fought this-‘battle for books in England with Sir Kingsley Wood m connexion with the purchase tax. All the better elements in the nation rose up in wrath that there was no distinction between ‘books and boots, to use Sir Kingsley Wood’s expression. Four months later,” continued Sir Stanley Unwin, “I had the? satisfaction of hearing him announce in the House of Commons that books must be put in a class by themselves. “Your Government can’t have it both ways. Either the import licences obstruct the free flow of books or they don’t. If they don’t, they are unnecessary. If they do. they are deplorable. “In any licensing system, ’ the best books suffer. However virtuous the bookseller may be. if his turnover is limited, he must concentrate on books which will sell rapidly and he will not use his licence on slower-selling scholarly works. “Having called on scores of booksellers in New Zealand, I can say without hesitation that the standard of their stock is reasonably good, except for certain cheap juveniles. If they had a free hand, I am confident that more good, but slower-selling, books would be stocked.”

Discussing figures quoted by the Minister of Customs (Mr Nash) in talks with him. Sir Stanley Unwin said statistics on books in New Zealand seemed to be indeterminately wedded to figures for periodicals. The import licences granted to booksellers and librarians made no distinction between books and periodicals. “Any figures based on these returns do not show precisely the proportion of books to periodicals imported to New Zealand; but a careful study of the .problem points to sales of periodicals slightly exceeding those of books. New Zealand is a large consumer of periodicals, of varying merit, and in this trend she tends to follow America rather than Britain," Sir Stanley Unwin continued.

“Fortunately, during the war, the British Government brought pressure to bear on British publishers to supply precise figures on the sales of British books and a return is made each quarter by the Publishers’ Association to the Board of Trade. These figures show that total sales were £10,000.000 sterling in 1938 and more •than £31.000.000 in 1948. Sales in New Zealand have not progressed at the same rate and she is, relatively, lagging behind Export sales were £3.500,000 in 1938 and more than £9.000.000 in 1948. In the last comparison it must be borne in mind that by 1948 such important markets as Germany and Japan were closed and that, for political and currency reasons, good markets like Hungary had lost their importance.” Sir Stanley Unwin added that the growth of public libraries had not impaired sales of books. Indeed, the better library services encouraged private ownership of good books.