HARMFUL PICTURES.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 January 1920, Page 7

HARMFUL PICTURES.

CONDEMNED BY TEACHERS. PROPOSED REMEDIES. The Masterton branch of the New Zealand Educational Institute, in a remit to -the annual conference, asked that the Government be urged to "purify and elevate the standard of moving picture entertainments."

Mr. J. A. Cowles moved the remit, He said that he was not prepared to discuss the subject, as he had been invited only at the lost moment to fill the place of Mr. F. L. Combs, the Masterton delegate.

Mr. J. D. M'Naughton (Auckland) supported the motion. He claimed that some of the pictures shown bordered upon immorality. If the school teacher took an interest in preventing a child from engaging in harmful labor before and after school hours he should take quite as much interest in keeping the child from attending picture shows, to its detriment. Miss N. E. Coad (Wellington) said that muoh talk was indulged in upon pictures, but the pictures just went merrily on. No improvement could, in her opinion, be hoped for until a woman censor was appointed and picture theatres were controlled either by the Education Department or by tlie municipal authorities.

Mr. A. J. C. Hall (Auckland) suggested that delegates should not attack pictures in general, since many pictures were instructive and very entertaining. They should single out some objectionable picture, make representations regarding it, and then hear what the other side had to say.

Mr. J. C. Webb (Wellington) said that he had frankly to admit considerable improvement in the quality of pictures even during the last 12 months. He was a frequent attender at picture shows, and he hardly ever saw a picture without wishing that children were prevented from seeing it. The trouble lay in the fact that the censor did his work in the interests of the adult community, and not of the children. It was heart-break-ing work to have to inculcate in children principles of right-living when the young ones were able to see so frequently pictures that represented the seamy side of life.

Mr. J. F. Wilson (Grey) named a particular serial picture at p.esent in circulation in New Zealand which he condemned in the strongest language. Delegates need not wring their hands over the trouble, he said. The institute could quite well bring it to an end, seeing that it was so widely recognised. People would not let children read literature on the level of some of the pictures they 3aw. • Mr. H. B. Young (Southland) found fault with the melodrama that gave false iaeas of social life in civilised communities.

Miss Coad moved the following addition to the remit: "That one woman censor should be appointed, and that picture theatres should be controlled either by the Education Department or by the municipal authorities." Mr. F. A. Gorry (Hawke's Bay) considered Miss Coad's proposal to be of no great practical value. He proposed as a solution that the Government should supply programmes suitable for children, and should see to it that children were not permitted to witness the exhibition of other pictures. "Mr. A. Erskine (Wellington) said that in preference to carrying a rather vague remit, the conference should appoint a committee to investigate the problem and report to the executive not later than the end of April. The conference adopted the suggestion, and appointed a committee consisting of Miss Coad and Messrs. Webb, Garry, Wilson and