THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE

No. 6

Describing the Boundaries of the Thames Abattoir and Specifying the Thames Borough Council as the Controlling Authority of the Thames Abattoir (Notice No. Ag. 10371)

PURSUANT to section 15 (4) of the Meat Act 1964, and to a delegation from the Minister of Agriculture for that purpose of the said section, notice is hereby given as follows:

1. The Thames Abattoir District shall henceforth comprise all the area for the time being comprised in the Borough of Thames and the County of Thames.

2. The Thames Borough Council shall continue as the controlling authority of the Thames Abattoir.

Dated at Wellington this 29th day of January 1969.

(Ag. 20002A)

G. J. ANDERSON,
Assistant Director-General of Agriculture.

Decisions of the Indecent Publications Tribunal

Nos. 133, 134

IN the matter of the Indecent Publications Act 1963, and in the matter of an application to the Tribunal for decisions in respect of the books Candy and The Exhibitionist.

DECISIONS OF THE TRIBUNAL

THESE books were submitted to the Tribunal by leave of the Minister of Justice. Mr Joseph appeared as Counsel for the applicant, Beckett Sterling Ltd., of Auckland, and made submissions.

In respect of each book the Tribunal decides as follows:

Candy. The novel by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg; Bernard Geis, London.

This is not, as it is titled, "the novel by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg"; it is a truncated version of it, in which editing has gone beyond excisions of textual variations. Nevertheless, comparison with the full American text shows that the excisions are less damaging than reviews of the present English edition indicated, and that the verbal changes are few and negligible. This is a narrative of the sexual experiences of an unsophisticated girl, a rather silly one, in contact with men of various kinds and classes, whose only object is to take advantage of her foolish innocence and its even more foolish idealism. The authors' purpose may be satiric: to satirise, for example, modern psychiatry, academic pretension and hypocrisy, and so on. But what survives of these possible intentions in the abridged and edited version of the book before the Tribunal, as also in the full text, is less than enough to give any seriousness of purpose to its episodic character. The book presents a debased and trivialised view of sex. We do not consider this to be in the public interest and therefore decide that the book is indecent within the meaning of the Act.

The Exhibitionist, by Henry Sutton; Bernard Geis, London (1968). New Zealand. Price $5.50.

The "exhibitionist" of this novel is an actor whose life story epitomises the inner loneliness and rootlessness of many in the professions of stage and screen. The theme of the book seems to be that these mass entertainment industries constitute a form of voyeurism in which two fundamental human drives—to perform or to watch—are made socially acceptable. The main character, and his actress daughter, act out a succession of fictional lives on film; their public lives become roles dictated by commercial considerations; and their private lives, wrecked by professional pressures, are shown to be pathetically empty in their compulsive repetitiousness.

As a whole, the book is not one of outstanding merit but it is written with moderate competence and expresses a sincerity of purpose. Given its theme, the numerous sexual incidents in the book are relevant to the author's major concerns; since, moreover, they are invariably brief and their language restrained, there is no sense that they invite the reader's interest for their own sake. The Tribunal therefore decides that the book is not indecent.

L. G. H. SINCLAIR, Chairman.

30 January 1969.

Decisions of the Indecent Publications Tribunal

Nos. 135-137

IN the matter of the Indecent Publications Act 1963, and in the matter of an application to the Tribunal for decisions in respect of the following magazines:

Modern Man Quarterly's Yearbook of Queens.

Modern Man, the Adult Picture Magazine.

Cabaret Queens Quarterly.

DECISIONS OF THE TRIBUNAL

APPLICATION has been made to the Tribunal by the Comptroller of Customs for classification, in terms of the Indecent Publications Act 1963, of the three following periodicals:

Modern Man Quarterly's Yearbook of Queens, Winter 1969, Vol. 51 (810); published at Skokie, Illinois, U.S.A, by Publishers' Development Corporation.

Modern Man, the Adult Picture Magazine, October 1968; same publishers.

Cabaret Queens Quarterly, Winter 1969, Vol. 20 (810); same publishers.

The importer, Mr Whitaker, appeared and submitted that all of these documents should be classified as indecent in the hands of persons of under 18 years of age, a classification which would reflect the treatment he would normally give periodicals of this kind in his own shop. The three journals would retail, he said, at NZ$2.50, NZ$1.00, and NZ$1.90 respectively.

After examining the periodicals and hearing Mr Whitaker we are of the opinion that, in the case of the issues of Modern Man Quarterly's Yearbook of Queens and Modern Man, the classification suggested is the correct one. Through both text and illustrations these journals present sex in a light and cynical but graphic way: they are too forced and dramatic to be healthy in the hands of children. We do not think the public interest would be served by their being displayed before children or made available to them. They should not be harmful to adults. Cabaret Queens Quarterly is on all counts less open to objection and we do not see any grounds which would warrant any restrictive classification being applied to it.

This issue of Modern Man Quarterly's Yearbook of Queens and this issue of Modern Man, the Adult Picture Magazine are accordingly classified as indecent in the hands of persons of under 18 years of age, and this issue of Cabaret Queens Quarterly is classified as not indecent.

L. G. H. SINCLAIR, Chairman.

30 January 1969.

The Standards Act 1965—Draft Amendment to the New Zealand Standard Model Building Bylaw (NZS 1900), Chapter 5: 1963, Fire Resisting Construction and Means of Egress

PURSUANT to subsection (3) of section 23 of the Standards Act 1965, notice is hereby given that the above-mentioned draft amendment is being circulated under the reference No. D. 9970.

All persons who may be affected by this amendment and who desire to comment thereon may, on application, obtain copies free of charge from the Standards Association of New Zealand, Private Bag, Wellington.

The closing date for receipt of comment is 1 April 1969.

Dated at Wellington this 4th day of February 1969.

G. H. EDWARDS, Director,
Standards Association of New Zealand.

(S.A. 114/2/8)

The Controlled (Non-resident) Accounts Notice 1968, Amendment No. 4

PURSUANT to the Exchange Control Regulations 1965, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand hereby gives the following notice.

NOTICE

1. (a) This notice may be cited as the Controlled (Non-resident) Accounts Notice 1968, Amendment No. 4, and shall be read together with, and deemed part of the Controlled (Non-resident) Accounts Notice 1968* (hereinafter referred to as the principal notice).

(b) This notice shall come into force on the 3rd day of February 1969.