NOVELS AND MORALS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13876, 9 October 1908, Page 6

NOVELS AND MORALS.

THE CHRISTCHURCH CASES. AN AUTHOR TO APPEAL. [BY TELEGRAPH.— ASSOCIATION.] CuniSTCifUECii, Thursday. It ia understood that an appeal will bo lodged against the magistrate's decision to impose a fine of 40s and costs on Mr. G. Rankin, assistant to Messrs. Simpson and Williams, for selling novels that were the subject of Court proceedings. It is felt that the judgment is against the weight of evidence in Rankin's case. It is also probable that the magistrate's decision in regard to the nature of the. novels will be questioned. A cable message has been received from Torquay, England, from tlio author of ono of the books, instructing Messrs. Simpson and Williams to take action in the matter. Mr. Fountain Barber, whose assistant was also fined, has decided that as the defendant practically pleaded guilty no further steps shall bo taken. Messrs. Whitcombe and Tombs have not yet decided whether an appeal shall be lodged on behalf of their assistant or not. AN IMPORTANT QUESTION. PROPOSED CENSOR IN LONDON. [NX TELEGRAPH.PRESS ASSOCIATION.] Christchurch, Thursday. Local booksellers express rather strong feelings in regard to the recent prosecutions and the magistrate's decision. Their grievance lies mainly against the police authorities for taking an action against the assistants instead of against the proprietors or managers of the establishments. Mr. G. Whitcombe, managing director of Messrs. Whitcombe and Tombs, when seen by a reporter, said that it was not right to prosecute the men who actually sold the books over the counter, and who were merely carrying out their instructions, without exercising their discretion and their judgment. As to the good that would result from the cases, he believed that if the police authorities wished to suppress books like those that had been the subject of the prosecutions their action had been ill-advised, and they had gone about the business in a wrong way. .Ever since the subject was brought prominently forward his firm had been pestered with applications for the very books it had been, prosecuted ; for selling. The action of !he police had opened up a great literary question, and it was impossible for the booksellers to say exactly what their posi f ion was. Apart- from the fallibility of booksellers, it seemed to him to be an extraordinary thing that a small place like Christchurch should attempt to dictate a standard of literature for the English speaking world. Mr. J. S. Williams, managing director of Messrs. Simpson and Williams, eaid that he did not know where the thing would end. A person might go into his shop and buy a well-known classic, and lay an information against him for selling it. By next mail he would send a long letter to tie Publishers' Association in London reviewing the case, enclosing a verbatim report of the Court proceedings, and recommending that a man should be appointed as a kind of censor in London, and that his judgments should be recognised throughout the English-speaking world. . Mr. Fountain Barber said that if ike authorities wished to stop the publication! of books that might be described as "doubtful," they should go to the publishers in London, not to the booksellers in New Zealand.