4 MAY

No. 474

Decision of the Indecent Publications Tribunal

IN the matter of the Indecent Publications Act 1963, and in the matter of an application by the Comptroller of Customs for a decision in respect of the book Soho Story by Sheila Foster, published by Olympia Press Ltd., London.

There was no appearance of the applicant nor of the publisher's representatives in New Zealand. Accordingly no submissions were made.

DECISION OF THE TRIBUNAL

THIS paperback book is the same as Soho Whore dealt with in decision No. 453. Although one is printed in the United States and one in Great Britain the contents are identical. The Tribunal reiterates its previous decision in finding that Soho Story is indecent.

R. S. V. SIMPSON, Chairman.

17 April 1972.

No. 475

Decision of the Indecent Publications Tribunal

IN the matter of the Indecent Publications Act 1963, and in the matter of an application by the Comptroller of Customs for a decision in respect of the book The Seven Erotic Minutes, anonymous, published by Olympia Press Ltd., London.

There was no appearance of the applicant nor of the publisher's representatives in New Zealand. Accordingly no submissions were made.

DECISION OF THE TRIBUNAL

THE best-selling novelist Irving Wallace wrote a book called The Seven Minutes in 1969; this centred on the trial of a bookseller in California for selling pornography in the form of a book called The Seven Minutes. The paperback entitled The Seven Erotic Minutes is an attempt to capitalise on the Wallace novel by providing what purports to be the unwritten book of the trial. It is an unrelieved account of one sexual incident after another, with no claim to literary merit or honesty of purpose.

The Tribunal classifies this book as indecent.

R. S. V. SIMPSON, Chairman.

17 April 1972.

No. 476

Decision of the Indecent Publications Tribunal

IN the matter of the Indecent Publications Act 1963, and in the matter of an application by the Comptroller of Customs for a decision in respect of the book The Organization by Harriet Daimler, published by Olympia Press Ltd., London.

There was no appearance of the applicant nor of the publisher's representatives in New Zealand. Accordingly no submissions were made.

DECISION OF THE TRIBUNAL

The Organization is described as “a group of sexual conspirators, who, with an apparent scientific detachment investigate and enact all known sexual activities”. The accounts of episodes of sexual depravity and cruelty are built around the initiation into the organisation of a young girl of 15, and the contrived vocabulary adds to the unwholesome and degrading character of the book. This book deals with matters of sex in a manner that is injurious to the public good. It has no redeeming features.

The Tribunal classifies this book as indecent.

R. S. V. SIMPSON, Chairman.

17 April 1972.

No. 477

Decision of the Indecent Publications Tribunal

IN the matter of the Indecent Publications Act 1963, and in the matter of an application by the Comptroller of Customs for a decision in respect of the book Agro by Nick Fury, published by Sphere Books Ltd., London.

There was no appearance of the applicant nor of the publisher's representatives in New Zealand. Accordingly no submissions were made.

DECISION OF THE TRIBUNAL

THIS is a novel featuring motor-bike gangs of young people carrying on gang warfare in London and its environs. There is violence, thuggery, and toughness aplenty. The book gives an insight into group behaviour and activities of these rebels against society. There is a great deal of sex activity that is of a depraved, brutal, and sordid nature, and this treatment of sex and the portrayal of violence in the Tribunal’s view would be injurious to the public good.

The Tribunal classifies this book as indecent.

R. S. V. SIMPSON, Chairman.

17 April 1972

No. 478

Decision of the Indecent Publications Tribunal

IN the matter of the Indecent Publications Act 1963, and in the matter of an application by the Comptroller of Customs for a decision in respect of the book Lesbos, anonymous, published by Riverhaven Ltd., London.

There was no appearance of the applicant. Mr P. J. Downey, solicitor, appeared on behalf of the publishers and made submissions.

DECISION OF THE TRIBUNAL

THIS is a sentimental treatment of lesbianism by way of photographs and brief quotations. It seems no more than an excuse for double-takes of female nudity in sexual poses and serves no useful purpose whatever and can be intended only for prurient use.

The Tribunal classifies this book as indecent.

R. S. V. SIMPSON, Chairman.

17 April 1972.

No. 479

Decision of the Indecent Publications Tribunal

IN the matter of the Indecent Publications Act 1963, and in the matter of an application by the Comptroller of Customs for a decision in respect of the book Beate Uhse Sexual Atlas fur Erwachsene by Gunther Hunold, published by Chausen and Bosse, Germany.

There was no appearance of the applicant. Mr P. J. Downey, solicitor, appeared on behalf of the publishers and made submissions.

DECISION OF THE TRIBUNAL

THIS is a well-produced hardback of reputable authorship covering “all anyone needs to know about sex”, and fully illustrated in somewhat glorious technicolour. The text is in German but we were supplied with an English translation. The Tribunal was informed that if the German edition were cleared by the Tribunal an English language edition would be published in New Zealand. Judging from the translation supplied, the book is serious and neutral in tone, factual in content, and makes on the whole a favourable impression.

It would seem, however, to be geared to a society which differs from ours in some ways, a society where, for instance, group sex activity, pedophilia, zoophilia, male and female homosexuality, are accepted not only with charity but with approval. Many of the illustrations are unnecessarily explicit and repetitive; some by their excellence as photographs tend to glamorise the deviations mentioned as well as the activities of the voyeur, the sadist, the exhibitionist, the fetishist, and the prostitute. While these aspects of sex are dealt with in the text in an objective and eminently reasonable way, we do not consider their inclusion in this pictorial “atlas” to be appropriate to the prevailing opinion and law in this country at present.

The Tribunal classifies this book as indecent.

R. S. V. SIMPSON, Chairman.

17 April 1972.