BOOKSELLER PROSECUTED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16169, 4 March 1916, Page 9

BOOKSELLER PROSECUTED.

ALLEGED INDECENT BOOKS. i FRENCH NOVELS QUESTIONED. 1 [n? TF.LEGSAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Wellington, Friday. THE decency or otherwise of two French' ' works—" Sapho," by Alphonso Daudet, 1 and " That Rascal.. Gustave," by Paul da - Kock—was considered in the Magistrate's '. Court to-day. Norman Edward Aitken, ! bookseller, was charged with selling tho ' books referred to, which were aSeged to 1 bo indecent publications within tho mean- ' ing of the Act. Defendant pleaded not ' guilty. ) Chief-Detective Boddam stated that lie > would not call any evidenco as to tho in- ' decency or otherwise of the books— ' was solely a matter for His Worship. '. The chief detective produced' both books and referred to paragraphs oa several pages. Mr. D. M. Findlay, for the defence, said there were circumstances in the case which' distinguished it sharply from any previous similar prosecution in New Zealand. Tha books were by reputable authors, and had ' been translated and printed by reputable firms in England for a number of years. The sale of both books had been constant for many years, and had been carried on quite openly. "Sapho" • was a classic, translated almost immediately after ib appeared, and it had since been dramatised. 'Alphoiise Daudet hid become a French classic, and his complete works s had been published in England. There ' was nothing in " Sapho" which approached 9 Drydcn's works, or Feilding's. None of 3 these had been brought under the ban, f because their high purpose and literary 1 value were recognised. "Sapho" was J not nearly as bad as soma plays which had appeared on the local stage. As to i de Kock, lie was regarded almost as a 3 French Feilding. The question was,'' Was 3 it literature or just an appeal to a certain 5 class of common indecency? It was ridiculous to take brief passages here and there in a book and decide the case on them. • : - o ~' William Mackay admitted that he sold ) the books to defendant, and knew of no . prohibition regarding the sale. Ho had , for the last 26 years sold copies freely and quite openly. . ..~- r John Harding, book manager for Goj:1 don and Gotch, gave evidence that tho t books were stocked by his firm. 'If they were prohibited, he said, Hall Caine's a "Woman Thou Gavest Me" and Max- , well's "In a Garden " should, come under tho ban. v Decision was reserved.