Declaring Land to be Subject to the Provisions of Part XXIV of the Maori Affairs Act 1953 (Bay of Islands Development Scheme)

Pursuant to section 330 of the Maori Affairs Act 1953, the Board of Maori Affairs hereby declares that on and from the date of the publication of this notice in the Gazette, the land described in the Schedule hereto shall be subject to the provisions of Part XXIV of the Maori Affairs Act 1953.

SCHEDULE

NORTH AUCKLAND LAND DISTRICT

All that piece of land described and situated as follows:

A. R. P.

62' 0' 9' Kaikou C 5c 2; Block XIV, Motatau Survey District.

Dated at Wellington this 18th day of January 1965.

For and on behalf of the Board of Maori Affairs:

B. E. SOUTER, Deputy Secretary for Maori Affairs.

(M.A. 61/7, 1.5/1/1.209; D.O. 18/B/21)

Plant Declared a Noxious Weed in the County of Akitio

(Notice No. Ag. 8109)

Pursuant to section 3 of the Noxious Weeds Act 1950, and to a delegation from the Minister of Agriculture under section 9 of the Department of Agriculture Act 1953, for the purpose of the said section, the following special order made by the Akitio County Council on the 12th day of October 1964, is hereby published.

SPECIAL ORDER

That, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by the Noxious Weeds Act 1950, the Council hereby resolves by way of special order that Nodding thistle (Carduus nutans) being a plant mentioned in the First Schedule of the Act, be declared as a noxious weed within the County of Akitio.

Dated at Wellington this 18th day of January 1965.

G. J. ANDERSON, Director (Administration).

(Ag. 20649A)

The Standards Act 1941—Amendment of Standard Specification

Pursuant to the Standards Act 1941 and the regulations made thereunder, the Minister of Industries and Commerce, on 21 January 1965, amended the under-mentioned standard specification by the incorporation of the amendments shown hereunder:

Number and Title of Specification: NZSS 784:1951 Sluice valves for waterworks purposes; being BS 1218:1946 amended to meet New Zealand requirements.

Amendments: No. 5 (PD 4545) No. 6 (PD 4910)

Application for copies of the standard specification so amended should be made to the N.Z. Standards Institute, Bowen State Building, Bowen Street, or Private Bag, Wellington C.1.

Copies of the amendments will be supplied, free of charge, upon request.

Dated at Wellington this 22nd day of January 1965.

V. FAIRHALL,

Acting Executive Officer, Standards Council.

(S.I. 114/2/3:1359-60)

Mooring Areas—Paremata

NOTICE is hereby given that official mooring areas have been approved at Paremata Harbour as shown on plan M.D. 11956 and deposited in the office of the Marine Department at Wellington. Applicants for mooring sites should apply to the Harbourmaster, Mr A. D. McKenzie, 13 Trevor Terrace, Paremata.

G. L. O'HALLORAN, Secretary for Marine.

22 January 1965.

(M. 3/8/52)

The Indecent Publications Act 1963

The Indecent Publications Tribunal having considered the application of the Comptroller of Customs in respect of the books Close of Play by Simon Raven, Many Slippery Errors by Alfred Grossman, and Death by the Day by Lawrence Fisher has classified each of the said books as not indecent within the meaning of the Indecent Publications Act 1963.

Dated this 20th day of January 1965.

E. M. SMITH, Secretary.

In the matter of the Indecent Publications Act 1963 and in the matter of an application by the Comptroller of Customs in respect of three books: Close of Play by Simon Raven, Many Slippery Errors by Alfred Grossman, Death by the Day by Lawrence Fisher.

DECISION OF THE TRIBUNAL

The tribunal has considered the application of the Comptroller of Customs in respect of each of the above-named books submitted: whether it is indecent, or for some other decision as to the classification of each book.

Counsel for the comptroller appeared to support the application and made submissions. Counsel for the publishers of the two first-named books, Hamilton and Co. Ltd., (Stafford) Ltd., 108 Brompton Road, London, appeared and made submissions. The last-named book was published by the Berkley Publishing Corporation, of 15 East, 26th Street, New York, U.S.A., which firm was not represented at the hearing.

The authors of both of the two first-mentioned books exhibit some ability in writing though of a different character. We were informed that both books had been published as “hard backs”—in 1962 and 1963 respectively—and had been in circulation for some time. Close of Play by Simon Raven is not his first novel and has the merit of being fluently written and easily readable. Many Slippery Errors on the other hand, though it too is not its author's first work, is less attractively written; there is much rather tedious dialogue of a semi-philosophical character. Both books relate sexual episodes, but these are incidental to the narrative and are not overdone. Each book, considered as a whole has the merit of being a well told story. It was conceded that no mature minded adult would be depraved by reading them but it was contended that they were unsuitable reading for juveniles and might well be harmful to such persons; that since the mass production and general sale of them on book stalls made it impracticable to impose any restriction as to their being available to persons under a certain age there should be a general ban. We do not think so. There is no evidence that an adolescent would be injuriously affected by reading these books and we do not think that a classification as indecent is warranted.

As regards Death by Day this is of inferior quality and too contains sexual episodes; it may perhaps in some respects flaunt sex rather more blatantly than the other two. Nevertheless we are not convinced that a juvenile reading it would be injuriously affected and we are not disposed to ban it as indecent.

It may appear illogical that the same story might be classified as indecent when published as a “paper back” purchasable for a few shillings and yet not warrant that classification in a hard back cover obtainable only for a pound or more. But the way the statute has been framed permits this. We were compelled recently in respect of three “paper backs” to make a general classification of each as indecent because of the impracticability of imposing a restriction on sale to persons under a certain age. Though we think that censorship of books in the interests of the young should be the minimum necessary the three paper backs we recently held to be indecent were as to their “get-up” generally so offensive, with covers likely to attract the attention of teenagers, that a classification of each as indecent was in our opinion well warranted for the reasons set out in our decision. As to the three now under consideration two are well told stories without undue emphasis on sexual incidents and the third though of poorer quality does not in our opinion warrant a finding that it would corrupt or deprave an immature reader.

We accordingly classify each book as not indecent within the meaning of the Indecent Publications Act 1963.

K. M. GRESSON, Chairman.

20 January 1965.

BANKRUPTCY NOTICES

In Bankruptcy—Supreme Court

FREDERICK CLARENCE CUNNINGHAM, of 3 Laburnum Road, Mount Roskill, seedsman, was adjudged bankrupt on 25 January 1965. Creditors’ meeting will be held at my office, on Monday, 8 February 1965, at 2.15 p.m.

P. R. LOMAS, Acting Official Assignee.

Fourth Floor, Dilworth Building, Customs Street East, Auckland C. 1.