BANNED BOOKS

Evening Star, Issue 25769, 16 April 1946, Page 8

BANNED BOOKS

STRICT CENSORSHIP IN AUSTRALIA ALLEGED STAR CHAMBER METHODS (NI.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent.) SYDNEY, April 15. The action of the Customs officials in seizing three well-known novels from a Sydney suburban library has evoked surprise and some consternation among Australian booksellers. The public is learning not only that the Australian book censorship is stricter than that of New Zealand, but that the list of officially banned books is regarded as secret by the Customs Department. Booksellers have known for some time that, although they are liable to prosecution for selling such boobs, it is impossible to obtain a list from the department, It is understood that a complete list of banned books is not even available to the Mitchell or University Libraries. The Customs Department's reason for keeping it secret is . that if it were made public a profitable " black market " smuggling racket might develop. RIGHT OF APPEAL. The Literature Censorship Board appointed by the Commonwealth Government is the authority that determines whether hooks referred to it on complaints are suitable for the public. Booksellers have the right of appeal to the censor, Sir Robert Garran. It is understood) that the last book banned by the board was ' Forever Amber,' which was investigated following a complaint by the Minister of Trade and Customs, A. V. Keane. In spite of this prohibition, members of the Sydney public who are " in the know " can still purchase copies of this controversial volume. The Customs assault on the suburban library followed a report by a Sydney columnist that a copy of ' Chinese Room,' by Vivian Conriell, was available there to the public. The book had to be obtained from a subscriber. Later Customs officials returned and confiscated it and copies of Thorne Smith's ' Night Life of the Gods ' and ' Topper Takes a Trip.' Both these volumes have been on New Zealand bookstalls since soon after they were published in 1932. They are certainly not in the latest novel class, and were well known in New Zealand long before the motion picture films with those names were released prior to the war. Most of, Thorne Smith's books are believed to be on the banned list here, but it seems impossible to ascertain which are and which are not. Three book shops in the centre of Sydney are known at which these books can be bought. The librarian of the raided library said that ' Chinese Room ' had been on the shelves for almost four years. She also stated that a parcel of three books from America, including ' Forever Amber,' was opened and the banned book extracted. Three months later she was advised of this and told by the Customs officials that she was lucky to get the other two books, as the whole parcel was liable to confiscation. Copies of ' Chinese Room ' are still being circulated by other Sydney libraries. Eminent literary men in Sydney are united against what Professor A. K. Stout, professor of moral, philosophy at Sydney University, calls a " star chamber system of book censorship which conceals even its own findings."