Miss Bartlett gets warning

Press, 2 September 1980, Page 2

Miss Bartlett gets warning

PA Wellington Miss Patricia Bartlett, the morals campaigner, will not be prosecuted by the Customs Department for importing obscene literature into New- Zealand, but she' has been “officially warned.” . A decision released by the Indecent Publications Tribunal reveals that Miss Bartlettl imported five paperbacks under the; pseudonym, J. Smith. The tribunal classi-

fied all five books as indecent. Mr J. Lupton, director of the Customs Department Research Divisions, confirmed yesterday that Miss Bartlett had committed an offence by importing indecent publications. However, she would not be prosecuted, but had been warned, he said. : It was the department’s practice not to prosecute first offenders. But Miss Bartlett had now received a letter of warning, telling her that should, she offend again, proceedings would be taken against her under Section 48 of the Customs Act, Mr Lupton said. That section relates to prohibited imports and carries a fine of $lOOO or three times the value of the offending goods, whichever is the greater.