to
their object, and, as we have mentioned, it has proved necessary to
a large extent to dispense with compliance with them. We think it
is anomalous that the law should continue to require marking while
almost every publication is exempted.

"In place of the present marking provisions we suggest that every
New Zealand publisher should continue to be required to print his
name and address on what he publishes, that the importer of
overseas periodicals for sale or distribution be required to supply
to the Department of Justice a list of the titles imported by him,
and that every one other than a retail bookseller who carries on
the business of importing books be required to supply to that
Department a list of the publishers whose books he imports.

"(4) There is one anomaly in section 5 (1) (_d_) of the principal
Act as set out in the 1954 Act. This is the provision which
requires the Magistrate to take account of the persons, classes, or
age groups to whom a document is sold or is intended or likely to
be sold _and the tendency of the document to deprave or corrupt
such persons_. The words in italics are appropriate in the
Victorian statute from which they were copied because the
common-law test of depraving or corrupting applies in Victoria, but
they are at best unnecessary in New Zealand where the Act lays down
its own test--namely, that the act of the defendant must be of an
'immoral or mischievous tendency'.

"(5) The 1954 Amendment contains some ambiguities and anomalies in
matters of detail which should be remedied when any further
legislation is brought down. These defects were discussed in an
article by Professor I. D. Campbell in the 1955 _New Zealand Law
Journal_, page 294.

"_New Provisions Suggested_: (1) As we have said, we are not
anxious that the ordinary law-abiding bookseller or distributor
should have to undergo the stigma of a criminal prosecution, and
this was the main reason for entering into arrangements with the
Associated Booksellers and Gordon and Gotch. At present, however,
criminal proceedings afford the only real way of testing the
position even where there is an honest difference of opinion. We
think a better procedure could be devised, and the Select Committee
may be invited to deal with this matter.

"(2) A number of comics which are