INDESENT LITERATURE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 245, 16 April 1912, Page 5

INDESENT LITERATURE.

SOLD ON TRAINS. BOOKS THAT WOMEN BUY. Peilding, April 12. The selling of indecent literature on trains has been the subject of much comment lately, and recently the Ministers' Association forwarded a strongly worded protest to the Minister of Railways. The secretary (Rev. Daniels) (has now received a reply from Mr. Ronayne, general manager of railways, the effect of which is that it was a very difficult problem to satisfactorily deal with, but the matter would receive attention as soon as possible. One book in particular that was cited by the Ministers' Association as being of an immoral nature was not apparently considered by the manager of railways as a book subject for prohibition on trains, inasmuch, as the book was exposed for sale in all stationers' shops. In conversation with a pressman one of the boys responsible for the sale of books on tihe train referred to the rery book in question among others, and he said that it was a singular thing that this book had a great sale among womei. The reason he assigned for the apparent popularity of the book was that though it was sold in stationers' shops women would not buy openly in places where they were known or could easily be identified, but as they were .perfect strangers to the boys on the train, and probalbly would never see each other again, they had no hesitancy in purchasing when on a train journey. The "special* books were usually kept in the boys' pockets until they were introduced to likely customer* or were asked for.