I move:—
That in the opinion of the Seanad closer co-ordination is desirable in regard to the detention of books on importation under Section 42 of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876 (39 and 40 Vic. cap. 36) and the censorship of books under the Censorship of Publications Act, 1929 (No. 21 of 1929).
To many, this may not be a matter of much concern but there is a substantial number of people with intellectual interests who have been very much affected and, I may say, annoyed by the lack of co-ordination in the administration of these two statutes and by their extraordinary inconsistencies and reactions upon each other. The House is probably aware that the Customs Consolidation Act of 1876 was the principal Act under which the importation of undesirable books was prevented until this country passed the Censorship Act of 1929. The Committee on Evil Literature, on whose report the censorship largely followed, said with reference to this Customs Act that it appeared to provide adequate powers to prevent the importation, publication, sale or distribution of any printed matter of obviously or grossly obscene character. In due course, that was not considered sufficient for preventing the importation of obviously obscene literature, and the Censorship Act was passed. I do not propose to say anything about the Censorship Act except to remark that it does not appear to hinder the curious and, perhaps, it does protect the innocent. Anybody interested in these books can get them and, probably, it does not matter what happens them. The inno cent cannot get them so quickly and they are protected. That is the law of the country and I am not making any complaint about its administration, but I should like the House to know what is happening under the earlier Act—the Act that was considered sufficient to prevent the introduction of matter obviously and grossly obscene.
From time to time, apparently with no central purpose and under no control, books are being held up under the earlier Act. My object in bringing the motion forward is to try to ascertain from the Government the policy under which that Act is administered because, to the ordinary outsider, there appears to be no policy. A book is held up at one port and allowed in free at another port. I want to refer to the case of a book published in January last. Its title is "Straphangers," and it was ordered by a certain person on reading a review in an entirely reputable paper—the Literary Supplement of the " Times." The review is not very long and I think, when I have read it, Senators will be satisfied that the book, at least, is not grossly obscene. I may add that the person who reported the matter had been talking to a friend of almost puritanical tendencies who saw nothing objectionable in the book, except that it is not a book to give to a school girl. There are few novels that one can give to the raw and entirely innocent school girl. The review says:—
"Miss James has taken for her characters seven regular passengers on the Edgeware-Elephant and Castle Underground Railway and follows them in the shops, houses, studios, and offices in which they work and back into their homes. The daily details of their lives are laid bare, their thoughts are set down and the tragedies and comedies are shown to us throughout one entire year. The travellers are varied in type and only in two cases do their lives become involved with one another."
That is a point to notice, whatever conclusions we may like to draw.
"There is a guard, a young man who is studying painting, a traveller in silk stockings—"
Not wearing them, I presume—
"two girl clerks, a lift-girl, and an old charlady. Miss James has departed entirely from the normal convention of narrative and, though the rather inconsequential style is at first a little trying, it is well suited to this book and is an interesting experiment. The subject is, undoubtedly, a little drab. Even with their little high lights, the lives of these workers are a study in grey, albeit a careful study. Miss James' thorough work cannot make this a cheerful book; indeed it appears that the motif she wishes to impress upon us is one of sacrifice. Each life has its ruling aim and in each life there is sacrifice for the master passion."
I do not know what that means. It may not please the person who stopped the book.
"This book certainly bears out the promise of the author's earlier work."
There is the case of a book taken at the port out of a number of books imported by an ordinary private reader— a consignment from an English library. I may add that the person importing this book has written several times in fact, once every week—to the Department of Customs for an explanation. All that came back were postcards in Irish—no explanation whatsoever.
