IMPORTS OF INDECENT BOOKS ALLEGED

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28700, 25 September 1958, Page 5

IMPORTS OF INDECENT BOOKS ALLEGED

(New Zealand Press Association)

INVERCARGILL, Sept. 24. Customs officials censoring the mail of an Invercargill man, had five times during the last 18 months found material of “the most salacious and disgusting nature,” the Crown prosecutor (Mr J. R. Mills) told Mr G. A. Nicholls, S.M., in the Invercargill Magistrate’s Court today. Before the Court was John William Robertson (Mr I. A. Arthur), a proof-reader, charged on two counts under the Indecent Publications Act with importing indecent documents into New Zealand.

Denying the charges, Robertson said that all the material was unsolicited. Mr Mills told the Court that the charges concerned two packets, addressed to Robertson, which arrived in Invercargill from the Amsterdam-domiciled Olympia Press on March 31 and April 18 last.

In the packets, he said, was a book entitled “Count * Palmiro Vicarion’s Book of Bawdy Ballads.” Each packet appeared to contain a half of the book. The first section, he said, was labelled on the wrapper as a “sample copy,” and the second was labelled as a “gift copy.” Robertson had given the Customs Department authority to open both packets, and the contents were considered by the Customs to be indecent, said Mr Mills. Writing to the department concerning the first packet, Robertson had stated that he had been expecting a publication from the Olimpia Press. The man had expressed surprise at the contents. He had told officials that he had anticipated a book entitled “L’Affaires Lolita.” Pictures From China

Robertson had been twice previously warned about importing indecent photographs and books, said Mr Mills. The first warning letter from the department concerned six pictures sent from South China. The second warning concerned four more pictures, a book entitled “Skirts,” and a copy of “Lady Chatter ley’s Lover.” Mr Mills submitted that Robertson was the consignee, and in his interpretation of the Act was the importer of the material. On summary conviction Robertson was liable to a maximum fine on each charge of £lOO. The minimum fine was a quarter of the maximum.

Mr Arthur admitted that, under the act, Robertson was presumed to have imported the material until he had proved otherwise. But the mere arrival of addressed ogods was not proof of guilt. Robertson had known for a long time that parcels addressed to him were being censored, he said. “Because of that, it is incredible that he would import anything illegal.” Robertson received hundreds of packets and letters annually, Mr Arthur said. It was inevitable that some would be unsolicited, as he carried on a world-wide correspondence with booksellers, publishers and private people, and he had an insatiable reading appetite. When Robertson had written an article on the Wolfenden report on homosexuality for an overseas magazine, offers had

arrived from overseas of male photographs. Mr Arthur described a police search of Robertson’s home in April, 1957. He said a detective and a Customs official had spent an hour and a half searching for indecent material, and had found nothing among Robertson’s large library. The remark by Mr Mills that the man was “perverted,” was completely unjustified, said Mr Arthur. Robertson told the Court that he had literary connexions in England, America, Israel, Russia, Greece and Austria, as well as France. He had written for such publications as “Punch,” “Spectator,” and “Man and Woman.” The pamplet “L’Affaires Lolita,” was of purely literary interest, published by the Olympia Press and concerning their forced shift from Paris to Amsterdam, said Robertson. He was not at all interested in indecent literature. Robertson submitted several testimonials to the Court, and further testimony as to his character was given by the editor of the “Southland Mr J. L. Grimaldi.

The hearing was adjourned untli tomorrow, when Robertson will be cross-examined by Mr Mills. Mr Nicholls said he would consider an application by Mr Arthur to have the two charges as one/ since only one publication was involved.