SIR, —Mr. Joyce Cary has shifted his ground— he is not
now writing in defence of horror comics but against the Bill which proposes to ban them. Perhaps in the interval he has actually seen a horror comic! However we are now on common ground because many of us, who want to see these comics banned, are not entirely happy about the proposed Bill and hope it will receive amendment in its passage through Parliament. I would like to assure Mr. Cary that we are not all fascists, reactionaries, or left wingers, but just people who wish to protect our children from a par- ticularly vicious form of corruption by un- scrupulous people for their own profit.
We do not allow children to see 'X' films, we punish those who attempt to ill-treat, mis- use or deprave them, so why should we make an exception here? - Mr. Cary seems to demand for 'publications' a licence which no other form of activity enjoys. Every form of activity in a civilised country is subject to restrictions of law, custom or usage.
Mr. Cary's attitude seems all too reminiscent of those 'liberals' who in the last century opposed any restrictions on children's hours of work or employment in mines and factories with just the same specious arguments.— Yours faithfully,
SHEILA PRIOR-PALMER
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