11 JANUARY
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE
41

No. 614

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 Abandon by Richard E. Geis, published by Softcover Library, London.

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

DECISION OF THE TRIBUNAL

IN this novel a young married woman, sensitive to a scar on her face, leaves her husband of three months, immerses herself in group sex experience and then returns to her husband, her hang-up miraculously dissipated by over-indulgence. The thin story line, the puppet characters, and the repeated detail of sexual encounters together call in question the author’s honesty of purpose.

The Tribunal classifies this book as indecent.

R. S. V. SIMPSON, Chairman.

18 December 1972.

No. 615

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 Naked Soul of Iceberg Slim by Robert Beck, published by Holloway House Publishing Co., California.

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

DECISION OF THE TRIBUNAL

THIS book is a collection of essays and vignettes by Robert Beck, writing under the name of Iceberg Slim. Material on the author supplied by counsel for the publisher’s agent in New Zealand supports the immediate impression that the book itself conveys of the intensity and seriousness of Beck’s exploration of Black American experience. The book hits hard. The sordidness and viciousness of some of this experience are not spared, but the treatment of these matters is in keeping with the spirit of the book as a whole—a painfully earnest struggle to understand and to communicate that understanding. It is a serious work, presented for, and deserving of, serious attention. There is no reason to restrict its circulation.

The Tribunal classifies this book as not indecent.

R. S. V. SIMPSON, Chairman.

18 December 1972.

No. 616

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 sound recording Step by Step Instruction in Sexual Technique by Miss Tuppy Owens, produced by Sexual Rapsody Records, London.

There was no appearance of the applicant. Mr Campbell appeared on behalf of the importer and made submissions.

DECISION OF THE TRIBUNAL

AS this is the first sound recording to be submitted to the Tribunal for classification, we have given careful consideration to the application of the Act to this field.

The first question to which the Tribunal has had to address itself is “Does the definition of ‘indecency’ in section 2 of the Act have the same meaning when applied to the spoken word as it has from the written word?” The written word is more personal and individual. A book or an article is read or studied or enjoyed generally in the privacy of the reader’s thoughts. A recording, however, almost inevitably becomes a centre of group activity and enjoyment. And just as conduct acceptable in the privacy of one’s home can be indecent in public, so a sound recording may not be acceptable where an article or book using the same material would be. A pamphlet of sex instruction manual, produced with restraint and honesty of purpose, but containing in print the same words as those spoken on the record, might not necessarily be indecent in terms of the Act. A sound recording, from its nature, is open to question as a suitable medium for instruction in such a personal matter as sexual techniques.

The recording is not an objective and detached lecture imparting sex education and information. It comprises alternating emotionally charged descriptions and instructions by a male and a female partner of sophisticated love-play and coitus, accompanied by background music of a provocatively erotic character. The language used is frank but not coarse, and the dialogue clearly intended to be sexually provocative and stimulating.

Applying the criteria contained in section 11 of the Act, in the Tribunal’s view the recording does not have either literary merit or social or scientific importance; the dominant effect of the recording is to incite rather than to inform and taken in conjunction with the fact that it will inevitably be used for group listening this calls in question the honesty of purpose of the makers of the record.

The jacket submitted with the record is exhibitionist and obscene. However, Mr Campbell advised that this cover would not be sold in New Zealand and he produced the one to be used which was plain and to which no objection could be taken.

The Tribunal classifies this recording as indecent.

R. S. V. SIMPSON, Chairman.

18 December 1972.

Consenting to Raising of Loans by Certain Local Authorities

PURSUANT to section 3 of the Local Authorities Loans Act 1956 (as amended by section 3 (1) of the Local Authorities Loans Amendment Act 1967), the undersigned Assistant Secretary to the Treasury, acting under powers delegated to the Secretary to the Treasury by the Minister of Finance, hereby consents to the borrowing by the local authorities mentioned in the Schedule hereto of the whole or any part of the respective amounts specified in that Schedule.

SCHEDULE

Local Authority and Name of Loan Amount Consented to $
Bay of Islands Electric Power Board: Renewal Loan No. 6, 1972 44,900
Marlborough Harbour Board:
Renewal Loan No. 12, 1972 11,000
Renewal Loan No. 13, 1972 50,800

Dated at Wellington this 19th day of December 1972.

J. D. LANG, Assistant Secretary to the Treasury.

(T. 40/416/6) .

Protection of Industry

NOTICE is hereby given, in compliance with the requirements of the Tariff and Development Board Act 1961 and its amendments, that the Minister of Customs has received the final report of the Tariff and Development Board on the following goods:

Goods Date of Receipt
Sensitised Polyester Film 20 December 1972

Dated at Wellington this 4th day of January 1973.

J. A. KEAN, Comptroller of Customs.

The Standards Act 1965—Draft New Zealand Standard Specifications Available for Comment

PURSUANT to subsection (3) of section 23 of the Standards Act 1965, notice is hereby given that the draft New Zealand standard specifications listed in the Schedule hereto are being circulated. All persons who may be affected by these specifica-