FILM CENSORSHIP?

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2795, 13 June 1916, Page 6

FILM CENSORSHIP?

VIEWS OF PICTURE .ENTREPRENEURS

CAUTION ADVISED

DEPUTATION TO HON. G. W. RUSSELL

A deputation representative of the people interested financially in picture shows put before the Minister of Internal Affairs yesterday some of their views concerning the proposed censorship of films. Their demand was not that nothing in the way of censorship should bo attempted, but that as the capital invested in the picture business was very considerable, and as tho problem of censorship was not easy of ready solution, the Government should proceed with caution. Mr. H. Hayward said the business had grown to such proportions that it could not now be readily interfered with. by passing a Bill through the House in half an hour, as had beeri suggested. He believed there was a capital of over a million pounds invested in the business in the during the past three years. The company he represented had a capital of probably X' 370,000. Then the Minister had to consider the attendance of the public, which was estimated at 320,000 a week. The Ministeh I should have thought it was more. Mr. Hayward: "No; we can say it is at least that." That, he added, was a very much bigger attendance than those who went to the churches. The kinematograph was really in its youth. The Initial Trouble. The great difficulty of censorship was that the New Zealand managers did not manufacture their own films. The amount spent in New Zealand yearly would be about' .£IOO,OOO. a year, and the managers had to buy that straight out. There was no hiring. They had their buyers in London, and in i'aris before the .war, and also in the United States, and it would be very difficult if there was any rigorous censorship. It would mean a tremendous loss.

The Minister: What happens to the films tney have finished with? Mr. Haywarrt: "They are mostly lying on the shelves." He pointed out that it would be very difficult if buyers bought films which were already censored, and they were to be objected to out here. Even at present managers suffered a certain amount of, loss because the films selected did not always suit the popular tast?.

The Minister: You censor for yourselves? ■

Mr. Hay ward: Yes. Last year we withdrew pictures at a cost of from ;£4OO to ,£SOO. We also cut out at least a thousand pounds' worth of stuff. If, censorship was necessary, he thought they'could not possibly do better than, follow the English method. The position at present appeared to be this: (1) Censorship was advocated on behalf of the children—that subjects suitable for grown-up people niight not be suitable for children. That argument applied to literature as well, as to pictures. He thought tho ; manufacturers' censorship adopted in England might well bo adopted here. They issued in England two warrants—one for universal exhibition and.the other for people over the ago of fourteen years. Tho Minister: There has been a division of opinion among the English people over that. Mr. Hayward: Yes. Tho Minister': It accentuated itself into a fairly strong quarrel over tho matter? Mr. Hayward: Yes. Ho went on to 6ay that he thought he was speaking for the trade when he said they would risk no kind of censorship in which any sectarian representative was concerned. That would lead to eternal trouble. The Minister: You needn't bo afraid of that. Censorship of Public Opinion. Mr. W. 1\ Shortt said there was rarely a picture shown that anybody could take exception to. As far as ho and the other managers in Wellington were concerned, fchoy all censored their own pictures; anything that was likely to be objectionable to the public or the children was immediately eliminated. It would bo very hard to cut out'every thing to which, any. body could take exception. If a picture was put on that was not acceptable to tho public, that theatre must suffer.\ The public themselves wero tho people who would discriminate, and if the managers censored thei,r own pictures, there would be very little need for official censorship. Wellington managers wero particularly careful in. that respect. As to the backblocks, those shown there were the same as shown in the cities. No picture went to the backblocks until it had been shown in Wellington or Aucklpnd.

Mr. John Fuller, jun., said his great trouble was that tho campaign had been carried out in a very insidious manner. No particular film had been named. If anybody could make a particular objection it would be welcomed. The other day Mr. Girlimj-Butcher said he had a portion of a film that was something horriblo, but he ceuld not name tho picture. Ho challenged the supporters ol the present movement to go round and 6ee which pictures they could take exception ' to, and in this connection he quoted the "Evening Post" as having stated, in a footnote to a letter, that its staff reported that "nothing objectionablo as far as> their moral tone is concerned had been discovered."'' Ho himself, as a public man, had always thought they should prohibit children being on the streets after 8 p.m. or at public entertainments unless accompanied by their parents' or guardians. He added that there might bo'one or two "black sheep," but there was no justification for hasty legislation. Minister's Reply. Mr. Russell said that the information that the deputation had conveyed to him would be of great assistance in dealing, with the question of censorship. Tho number of letters that had been received from all parts of the Dominion—from public bodies, education boards, municipal councils, and others—represents! so strong a public opinion that he. personally thought that the Government was bound to deal with tho question. Whether, considering that this was a war session, it would bo possible to deal with tho matter this year he could not say. That would be for Cabinet to decide. He, however, could give them some idea of the determinations that ho had arrived at. In the first place ho thought it would be impossible for one man to censor tho films that came to New Zealand. He thought that tho total quantity of films imported-into New Zealand was about six million feet. ! ' Mr. Hayward: It is not more than half that. Mr. Russell said that he did not think any one man should take the responsibility. There should be a board consisting of not fewer than three persons. Ho would grve a guarantee that if ho retained his position tho men seleoted itould be average men, not representing any particular sect or idea, but fairminded men who knew what was a correct thing to do as between the picture proprietors and the public. Tbero would bo two classes of films—one of which would not be shown to children under a certain age. To some extent perhaps the public had- become unnecessarily alarmed by the flaming posters which were so freely circulated. Many of these posters often gave the public a false and wron" idea of the play as a whole. ° Mr. Fuller: Hear, hear. Yes. Mr. Russell said that he thought the proprietors would be acting in their own interests if they censored the posters. Qualifications of Censors. Ho thought tiiat the censors should be men who would not for one moment attempt a censorship of the kind known as "wowserism." They would bo representative fair-minded men, possessed of ft sufficient knowledge of art and a knowledge of what was fair. It was quito true that the picture people as a whole did not desiro the public tastes to I>b lowered. But in this as in every other trade (here were black sheep, and it was these neoplo that they had to guard against. The strongest representations that had como to him were those from the cducai:--' —in recrard to the influ-

enco of tho pictures upon the children. There wa9 practically no analogy between pictures and literature; a "penny dreadful," tor instance, required to be read before the child could assimilate tho evils contained in it. But a child on seeing a picture carried away impressions that in many cases were imprinted upon its mind for ever. If legislation was brought down fair play would be secured by tho appointment of men who fairly represented the whole public opinion, and not meroly extreme views. The censorship would interfere only with Kims of an objectionable character. He regretted to notice that pictures of an educational, scenic, and topographical character had been largely eliminated. Judging by the advertisements, too much attention- appeared to be given to pictures of an emotional, sex, and melodramatic type. If more pictures dealing with industrial and scenic subjects were shown, a great deal of the present criticism would pass away. If the censorship came into force everything would be censored from Wellington, ami the pictures would have to be shown in the form in which they were passed or a prosecution would follow.

The Only Test. Mr. Hayward asked whether asy definite line of censorship' would lie laid down. Would pictures advocating Socialism, for instance, be permitted? Mr. Russell: I can assure you that there will be 110 dictation from the Minister of Internal Affairs as to the line to he taken. The only rule that n be laid down will be that the pictures must not offend public decency and public morals, and that they must not be such as will have any bad effect" upon the community.

A member of the deputation'said that the war prevented more desirable pictures of the kind suggested by Mr. Russell from being obtained.