STORIES BY BALZAC

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 98, 19 January 1935, Page 14

STORIES BY BALZAC

Allegation of Indecency \ By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, January 17. Mr. Wyvern Wilson, S.M., had submitted to him for decision to-day the question whether Balzac’s- ' “Droll Stories,” written in 1533, are Indecent within the meaning of New Zealand law. After hearing some evidence he adjourned the case until January 25. Cecil George Swallow, a bookseller, was charged with offering for sale an indecent document “Droll Stories,” by Honore de Balzac. Detective Hamilton, who saw the book in the defendant’s window, said that the defendant told him that he had imported six copies from England, but the Customs Department held thehi up. A week later the Department allowed him to lift them. Cross-examined, he said that he believed that the book was stocked generally throughout New Zealand. He had not heard of a prosecution in regard to this book before. Counsel for the defence said that the defendant had been an established bookseller for over 20 years.' He submitted, that the Indecent Publications Act did not apply to works of a famous author like Balzac, whose work had had a deflnite effect on the literature of his country. Cross-examining the witness, Senior Detective Hall read a passage from one story and the defendant said that be would not let his own child of 12 or 13 read it.