Exclusion of Harmful Magazines

Northern Advocate, 19 August 1938, Page 7

Exclusion of Harmful Magazines

fPer Press Association. Copyngnt.] WELLINGTON, This Day. The principles which the Minister of Customs, the Hon. W. Nash, would like importers of foreign magazines to follow when selecting periodicals for distribution in New Zealand ‘are contained in a circular letter out this week. It is understood that importers have signified their willingness to meet the Minister’s wishes as far possible. One Wellington importer, interviewed yesterday said that, while he agreed that it was undesirable that certain types of magazines should get into the hands of young people, he believed many harmless publications had come under suspicion through indiscriminate use of the term “pulp magazines.” By no means all of the magazines that could be included in that classification were harmful, he said, and apart from that the term had been loosely applied ot all magazines sold at a reduced price. Many cheap imported magazines included back numbers of reputable publications, and it was not right that all cheap periodicals should come under the stigma attaching to one small section.

No business firm of standing would knowingly bring into the country publications of an objectionable type, and there was a obvious danger that any action taken against so-called pulp magazines might involve printed matter that was completely innocuous. There was a strong public demand for cheap magazines, and the business of bookselling would be seriously interfered with unless this demand could be adequately meet.