I .. t --- You suggest that reputable publishers — 0 f aY b e prevented from
publishing real works art by the present temporary attitude towards thep
d ublication of unclean literature.
;,°,nerallY they can be trusted to ise discretion in this direction, but theexercise activitwies Zit the police, who have always been lethargic ki taking legal action on this subject, are not ,„sPired by that type of book. Recently in ',70 provincial cities the magistrates ordered ie destruction in each case of more than a hundred books that the police had collected Vt their inspection. These orders Were made liteer the magistrates had examined each pub- atien and satisfied themselves that it was Obscene. But the torrent of evil publications still continues I myself recently read two books, re e. of them with qualifications favourably byvi , ewed by the Spectator, the other written • ' well-known, author (I do not propose to gtve th_ the' m a free advertisement by mentioning be r titles) that by any standard could only ..e described as poisonous. One of them was 1;31 en9Y Published in a cheap reprint edition is thirty thousand copies. A'wise censorship b. t easY, but the public can assist the police .7 drat.. --mil the attention of the local authorities to any book which without cavil is immoral and evil. The ultimate tribunal is, of course, an educated public opinion, but even this can not always be trusted.—Yours faithfully,
ANGUS WATSON
Sunlight Chambers, 2-4 Bigg Market, Newcastle-on-Tyne I.
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