DREAMING GIRLS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3701, 8 October 1927, Page 4

DREAMING GIRLS.

CHILDREN AND FILMS

“DAY AFTER” LOVE SCENES

Children who are regular picturegoers can be picked out in their class at school, Mr. Alban McLachlan told the Royal Commission on the moving picture industry at Sydney. He added that they were noticeable mostly by lethargy and want of concentration on their work.

Mr. MeLachlan, who is a staff inspector in the Education Department, said further that girls, particularly those from 12 to 14 years of age, saw at the pictures the kind of thing that usually took place in private—love-making, passionate embracing, prolonged kissing. It was most unnatural for them. Such girls dreamed in class. They are awakened by a seemingly unsympathetic teacher, but they soon fell to dreaming again. Witness said the only departmental experiment with films for educational purposes was at Maroubra Junction. The department was not favourable to such use of films. Prohibition of children from attending pictures more than once a week would be a good thing, Mr. MeLachlan thought. He wa.s sure harm must follow allowing children to attend picture shows in the dark without control. Children were getting the “movie” type of mind. 'Those who went to the pictures saw so much life rush past them that they could not sit down and read.

Mr. Deerin (Chief Secretary’s Department) advocated uniform censorship throughout the Commonwealth.