The Hastings Standard. THURSDAY JULY 5, 1906 INDECENT POST-CARDS.

Hastings Standard, Volume X, Issue 5241, 5 July 1906, Page 2

The Hastings Standard. THURSDAY JULY 5, 1906 INDECENT POST-CARDS.

Tup; picture postcard had had a sensational history. As a baby it gave simple lessons in geography, but in its premature old age it is losing its innocence. Naturally the postcard, enabling people to record their travels or describe their environments, soon captivated the popular fancy, and the sales were phenomenal. Gradually, however, navy expedients had to be tried to keep the public appetite from growing jaded. The "artists" ransacked the wide world for subjects with more care than epicurean Romans had the land ana sea searched for rare eatables. The picture liend snapped the marble hall, the humble cottage, the Tsar of all the Kussias, everybody and everything that the eye of man could see or his mind imagine. All expedients were tried to keep the postcard in its proud perch at the top of the tree of popularity. Though all manner of absurdities found a place on cards, yet for a time the prints were not obnoxious, {sensible people became a trifle alarmed because the new craze, they said, threatened the legitimate letter. It put a premium on idleness, gave an irritating tabloid of nothingness instead of a satisfying meal of honest news. The grotesque and funny, however, did not seem to suiiiee to draw the coin of the populace, and then the resources of indecency were exploited. This scandal has become so flagrant that it has aroused condemnation throughout New Zealand. In Christchurch the vendors of obscene postcards have been deservedly prosecuted and fined, and there is no reason why similar punishment should not be meted out to olicnders in other towns. In Wellington (says the Tost) the evil has been opaft enough to engage the attention of the Council of the Evangelical Churches. Ai a recent meeting the ltev. Dr. Gibb said that any trader who displayed indecent postcards m his window ought to be regarded as a vi!e|outcast. and prosecuted by the police svithout waiting for outside prompting. The exhibition of these cards was an intolerable thing—it was far worse than the dissemination of bad books, for the e-fiects were wor-i' anu the people should arise in :h- mi._'ht of their outraged feelings and demand, that this damnable thing be put down. Eventually the following resolution was unanimously adopted :—" That, with an caruc.-i" desire to maintain the mural tone of our city, this Council of

the Evangelical Churches of Wellingi ton. Now Zealand, raises its voice ' against the sale of indecent and vilely - | suggestive picture postcards, which are J freely exhibited and sold in many of 1 the shops in our city. This council t begs to call the attention of the authorities to the above, anchrespect- ; fully urges them to take the necessary i steps to prevent the sale of the same, and thus safeguard the morals of the. rising generation."