PERNICIOUS LITERATURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17295, 20 October 1919, Page 9

PERNICIOUS LITERATURE.

EFFECT UPON COMMUNITY.

MINISTER'S CONDEMNATION.

An address entitled. "Damaged Goods," was delivered by the Rev. E. T. Cox, at the Methodist Mission service held in the Strand Theatre last evening, the subject having special reference to the evils wrought in the community by venereal disease.

The speaker also dealt with the degradation of the mind and spirit of the rising generation through the influence of certain classes of literature that were freelv sold by practically all booksellers. Ho stated that on Friday last, in walking up and down Queen Street he noticed that all the booksellers' shops but two were selling a type of magazine that was dangerous for young people to read, as the contents were calculated to degrade the mind and excite the passions. He held that such publications should be banned, and the people who attempted to sell them boycotted. The speaker expressed the opinion that the large increase in divorces that was recently noted was due to the dissemination of pernicious literature. The publications he specially referred to were not British, and he had always been proud of the British magazines. Mr Cox also referred to the influence of the drink traffic on the morality of the people. ___—