WHAT PEOPLE READ

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6815, 19 January 1929, Page 11

WHAT PEOPLE READ

IMPROVEMENT NOTICEABLE DEMAND FOR BETTER BOOKS BOOKSELLERS IN CONFERENCE CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 16. That the public taste in literature is steadily improving, that books other than novels arc becoming more and more popular, and that, the popularity of the sex novel is decreasing, were some of the opinions expressed by various speakers at the civic reception given to-day to delegates to the conference I 'of the New - Zealand Retail Booksellers’ Association. The deputy-mayor of Christchurch, Mr D .G. Sullivan, M.P., who welcomed the 70 delegates, said: “I was delighted to learn yesterday in conversation with an authority on the subject that the public taste in literature is steadily improving. .This is showij by the better quality of fiction read and by the increasing demand for other than novels. , It is good to know that the popularity of the old sex problem novel is decreasing, and that its place is being taken by a better class of novel. I was also pleased to learn of the increased attenion of the ■ public to Netv Zealand writers. New Zealand is still waiting for a writer who will do full justice to the spirit of the Domnion."

The president of the association, Mr G. H. Bennett, of Palmerston North, who endorsed ■ Mr Sullivan’s remarks, said : "Of course, some people will always want sensational literature, and we are not censors. While it is our duty to provide what books are wanted, it is also our duty to guide public opinion," ..

Mr H. C. South, of Wellington, said he believed that bookselling in New Zealand was on a very high level. It was the ago of biography, travel and memoir, and an astonishing number of this type of book was sold. . Mr H. H. Driver, of Dunedin, described as "the father of booksellers in ; New Zealand," said that booksellers had. a very beneficent influence in the community. “Our complaint is that people do not buy enough books. They go to libraries or borrow them from friends. The conditions of life have changed, and people are not compiling thoif owii libraries as they used to do."