PICTURE SHOWS IN WELLINGTON

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 83, 6 October 1915, Page 3

PICTURE SHOWS IN WELLINGTON

TO THH EDITOR. Sir, — At" a meeting of the Education Board, reported by you, Mr. Aitken remarked that he had seen two or three picture shows in Wellington, and on each occasion, he had seen pictures that were not attractive to "him." Mr. C. M. Luke 'expressed his surprise at the " silly tomfoolery " of some of the pictures he had seen compared with other pictures of the poet instructive character, and of high educational value. Recently, the Christchurch City Council passed a motion asking the Minister of Internal Affairs as regards a censorship of pictures. You can quite imagine, sir, supposing the censor, if appointed, was either Mr. Luke or Mr. Aitken, what kind of programmes would be served up to the public. It would be just as incongruous as to get Mr. Aitken, to edit your racing column, or Mr. C. M. Luke your pugilistic or Police Court notes. Take, for instance, the pictures showing in all the picture theatres in Wellington this week. I venture to say there is not one picture exception could be taken to by the average mind. From time to time ■ we hear an outcry against one picture which has been boomed by an energetic showman, and which is judged by the newspaper advertisements instead of from the film itself — hence the false impression. Time after time there are magnificent pictures shown, such as "Munitions of War," "Panama Exposition," "Australia's Unknown," etc., but we never hear of anybody^ writing to the papers praising these pictures. But if there is a picture of t a well-known novel, the picture is judged byi the book, and not by the merit of the picture itself. The pictures shown in New Zealand are censored before they come here, and are then censored "by the Film Bureau, and then j censored again by the picture showman 1 himself, and if at any time any picture showman should happen to show a doubtful picture, the public soon give him his reward by politely staving away. If a picture is shown of a problem play order, I venture to say that no child under twelve can nndenstand the plot, and there is no harm done. However, 1 have always been an advocate of a Juvenile Act in this country, where no children should be allowed ta go to places of amusement or be on the streets after 8.30 at night, unless accompanied by a guardian. In conclusion, I -want to ..remind Messrs. Luke and Aitken that they must keep their hands off the picture shows, as at present they are a useful antidote to dispel in a modified way the awful events that are occurring in Europe and Gallipoli. In Wellington alone there are aver 40,000 picturegoers, and these people have a sense of decency, and would Boon cry out and etay away if any picture proprietor over-stepped the bounds. Then we have the newspaper reporters, wno are never afraid to criticise an unwholesome picture should it ever be presenxed; and right throughout New Zealand the rights of picturegoers are going to be protected, for they all have votes, and they won't allow their rights to be interfered with; for the picture-going public, which must amount to something like 500,000 people in this Dominion, are censors in themselves. Then, again, you have excellent powers in the Police Offences Act, and the municipalities have the right to cancel or revoke any license where they think the pictures are of a nature that is unwholesome to the average mind. By all means let us protect the children as is done, but the censor on pictures would only be the thin end of th© wedge for a censor of newspapers and literature in general. Times are troublesome enough without this advocacy of unnecessary domestic legislation. — I am, etc, JOHN FULLER, JUN.. Wellington, 30th Sept.