THE WEEK. The Otago Witness.

Otago Witness, Issue 2849, 21 October 1908, Page 51

THE WEEK.

The Otago Witness.

WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1908.)

" Knnquatn lUad nature, aliud aapieoti* eUxlt."— Jutbjjal. " Good nature and good tente must ever join." — POP*.

Now that the date of the General Election has been definitely Bctneea fixed for Tuesday, NoTwo Firei. veinber 17, the candidates are takin? the field, and the customary flood of political speeches has begun to deluge the land. Pro-

bably everybody, including the candi« dates themselves, would benefit considerably if they prepared** themselves for the election campaign by a perusal of that chapter in "Dombey and Son,'* wherein Charles Dickens causes the' oracle to speak, the said oracle being) none other than Captain Bunsby, the Commander of the Cautious Clara., That celebrated individual upon being requested to give his opinion anent a. certain knotty point delivered himself in a style which has been handed down! as a model which aspirants for parliamentary honours should strive to emulate^ both as regards brevity and emphasis., That -model speech, it will be reraem-* bered," ran as follows : — "My * name's Jack Bunsby, and what I says, I stands^ to. ' Whereby, "why not? If so, wh'atf odds? • Can .any man say otherwise 'a No ! A wast then. . ' * If a skipped stands x)ut by Sen\ George's Channel^ making for the*- Downs, what's "righti; ahead of him? The Goodwins. He isn't*' forced to run upon the Goodwins, but he may. The -bearings of this observa-; tion lays in the application on it. Thatil ant no part of my duty. -Awasfc then,| keep a bright look out for'ard, and goodlj lack to .you." The „ application of "thetf observation of the commander of the; Cautious Clara will be- obvious to all who, have- diligently perused the speeches of Sir* Joseph Ward at Palmerston North," Mr s W. J. Munro, at Dunedin j Mr Bobertf Scott, at Naseby, to mention only three of the parliamentarians at present on .thei stump. In regard to the Government, it cannot fail to be observed that the( present Ministry is right between two, tires, and the cross attack to which they, will most assuredly be subjected during the election contest is well typified bvj the utterances of Messrs Munro and! Scott. Mr Munro, as the nominee of* the Political Labour League, represents the extreme of the Labour party — in fact, the advocates of a revolutionary^ Socialism. And Mr Munro's complain* against Sir Joseph Ward and the] Ministry is that respect of Laboui-. /egislation they are content with marking/ time — they will (Inpt. countenance and aioij the gospel of Socialism in which Mh Munro and those who think with hin» can discern the millennium for the work-J ing man. Frankly, Mr Munro avows thai* so long as the present capitalistic system prevails, the worker cannot hope to improve his position or his condition : ther« is nothing for it but the gradual national-! isation of ,, all industries. And the onlW way to bring this about is by the return* of the candidates of the Political Labour; League. Mr Scott; on the other hanc< is a representative agriculturist, who regards politics from the settler's standpoint. H^V also, has a complaint agaguti the Government-^viz., that Sir Joseph Ward and his Ministry • lend too restfs an ear to legislation of a socialistic character, the gradual insidiousness ofi which is more to be feared than any oft the extreme proposals of Mr Munro..j For Mr Scott .sees, anct judges rightly'^ that while the mass of the working popt-| lat ion hesitate to support a pfogxamro«| of revolutionary Socialism, yet there are} men in the Ministry jvno Incline to-I'egia-lation which would in the long* fun open: the door for the very changes which th» Political Labour League so much desn» t^ see. And Mr Scott is undoubtedly onf' right lints when he warns his own andß, other constituencies — especially country' constituencies — of the danger of harbour-? ing candidates whose leanings to the abc-r lition of the freehold and other socialise tic doctrines' render them a menace to the agriculturist and the farming community in general. Wherefore we incline* to the opinion that the Tuapeka elector* will do well to return Mr Scott to Parliament as .a protest against the spread of Socialism and socialistic doctrines.

It is reported from Christchurch that the necessary steps have The Ceasorahip been taken to appeal of l-'icllca. against the decision ot the> magistrate in the cases vtf which two booksellers' assistants' were fined for selling literature held to be in-< decent "n character. The books in ques-» tion were novels; by popular writers, which have_ had a wide circulation i» England and in the colonies, and flrhicar were published several years ago, bui/ have recently been issued in cheapj editions. It is understood that the appeal has been lodged at the instigation of the lady writer responsible for three ot the four novels in respect to which the police recently took action ; presumably since this particular lady novelist ob< jects to be stigmatised a3 a purveyor oi improper fiction. But although, with th< impetuosity characteristic of a youn{£ community, New Zealand has gone in ad< | vance of the Home land in the mattes 1 of actual prosecutions, the need of som«! sort of censorship over the fiction of th^ present day has for some time past beei^ engaging the attention of the thought^ ful in England. In many of the literary journals and magazines quite an ani-t mated discussion has been proceeding, in;' which the pros and cons of the subject^ have been spiritedly, stated. One of the( most able as well as the most recenti of these contributions appears in thq current number .of the Nineteenth! Century, under the title, " The Censorship of. Fiction," by Mr Bram Stokerthe writer/whosp "Life of Henry Irving I**1 ** has earned much popular appreciation.) And. Tsx Stoker declares that the first} point to He decided isf as to restraint orS no restraint.; he expresses the opinion thaii the record of the last few years plainly reveals the necessity of sony sort of re* straint, so far as .the purveyors of fiction are concerned. " The self-restraintl and . reticence," remarks Mr Stoker r " which many writers have through centuries exercised in behalf of art which they loved and honoured has not of late been exercised \>y the few who sook to. make mon^y and achieve notoriety through

bass means. There is no- denying the fact nor the cause; both are only too painfully apparent. Within, a couple of years past quit^ a number of novels have been published in England that would be a disgrace to any country even less civilised than our own. The class of works to which I allude are meant by both authors and publishers to bring to the winning of commercial success the forces of inherent evil in man. The ■word man here stands fO7f 07 woman as well as man ; indeed, women are the worst offenders in this form of breach of moral law. As to the alleged men who follow ' this loathsome calling, what term of opprobrium is sufficient, what punishment could be too great? This judgment of I work which claims to* be artistic may I seem harsh, and punishment may seem I vindictive ; the writer has no wish to ! be either harsh or vindictive-^except in » so far as all just judgment may seem f harsh and all punishment vindictive. look what these people have done. I They found an art wholesome, they made \it morbid ; they found it pure, they left L ifc sullied. Up to this, time it was free—f ree— fthe freest thing in the land; they so I treated it, they ro abused the powers [allowed them, and their own opportun- , ities, that continued freedom becomes I dangerous, even impossible. They in „ their selfish greed tried to deprave where • others bad striven to elevate. . • • The merest glance at some of their work ' will justify any harshness of judgment ; • the roughest synopsis will horrify. It 1 is not well to name either these books • or their authors, for such -would but make known what is better suppressed, and give the writers .the advertisement which they crave. It may be taken that such writers as are here spoken of deal not merely with natural misdoing based on human weakness, frailty, or passions, of the senses, bu£ with vices so flagitious, so opposed to even the decencies of Nature in its crudest and lowest forms, that the poignancy of moral disgust is lost Xa horror." Equally as emphatically as he denounces what he deems a^ grave ThaXecd and dangerous evil, deeply forDrutic affecting the principles and Dealing. lives of the young people of to-day, Mr Stoker urges the need of drastic dealing. He recognises that any scheme of censorship in respect of fiction, involves a departure from, the custom of freedom in the press, so gloriously initiated nearly three centuries ago by John Milton. But he stresses the fact that the class of people to be dealt with are constructively % a criminal class, and as such require repressive measures. The criticism of the press, admittedly sadly deficient in its duty, is not adequate to tbe case, sizs.ee oHenders are only amenable to punitive measures. And Mr Stoker continues— and his remarks Jbave a direct leaning in support of the decision of the magistrate in Ofaristchurch : "It is hardly possible to obliterate such works of shameful lnbricity; unhappily the weakness of ooor humanity makes a continuous market for them. But we should at least try to prevent for the future such filthy and dangerous output. We take steps to deal drastically with evils .that menace the wellbeing of society. Dance 'houses are regarded jealously; disorderly liouses are sternly dealt with; the sale of noxious drug 3is carefully regulated; even tbe sale of intoxicants is limited hy restraining measures. In fact, all occupations based on human frailty are by the general wisdom of the State put in greater or less degree under supervision. Why not then, if necessary, adopt the ' same attitude towards an evil more grave than any of the above, because more insidious? The writer does not, for one, wish such a thing as a censorship of fiction to be brought about, if it can be possibly avoided, if some otljer means of protection for the highest class of literature can be found or designed. Ec glories, like the others of his calling, in the freedom of letters, and trusts that jome other way may b"e found of 'dealing with the dangers that threaten. But if no other adequate way can be Ifound, and if the plague spot continues to enlarge, a censorship there must be. Kit course, there is, in a way, a remedy already. There exists a censorship of a kind, -but it is crude, and coarse, and clumsy, and difficult of operation — the police. No one could wish an art so fine as literature, with a spirit as subtle and evanescent as cenanthic ether — the outward expression of the thaumaturgic art of thought — put under repressive treasures carried out by coarse officials. Lut it is the coarseness and unscrupulousnecs of certain writers of fiction which has brought tKe evil ; on their heaxls foe it. The sad part of the whole thing is the wantonness of it. Coarseness there has always been of some measure. Smollett, for instance, was undeniably and wantonly coarse ; even Fielding's beautiful work was dyed with the colour of an age of luxury and unscrupulousness. But certain of the writers of our time claim absolute freedom oi both subject and method of treatment in order that they may deal with what they call 'problems.' Now, there is no problem which may arise to any human" being in the long course between the cradle and the grave which need be forbidden to public consideration, and which may not be 9 wholesomely dealt with. There is not a household which may not have it 3 painful experiences of some of these, and they are solved to some end with boldness and decorum. But it may be feared that writers who deal with lewd subjects generally use the word 'problem* either as a shelter for themselves or M a blind for some intention more base than mere honest investigation." The problem they have in reality set them•clves is to find an easy and prosperous way to their desires without suffering from public ignominy, police infcerfertenca, or the reproaches of conscience j

with the inevitable result that they rightly incur the penalties distributable by all "three."