§ 41. Sir J. Hobsonasked the Attorney-General how many obscene novels and obscene magazines, respectively, were seized by the police and customs authorities in 1965.
§ The Attorney-General180,808 books and 1,076,139 magazines.
§ Sir J. HobsonIs there any reason why the number of novels dealt with in 1965 was less than half the number dealt with in any of the previous five years?
§ The Attorney-GeneralThe difficulty is that the flood of pornography arose when the last Conservative Government, in 1961, lifted the restrictions on the importation of printed matter. The authorities did what they could to stop the flood. Unfortunately, saturation point having been reached, what is going on now is a topping-up procedure. The authorities are doing the best they can to prevent the flood so unhappily initiated under a Tory Administration.
§ Mr. FreesonCan the Attorney-General tell the House what size staff is employed to arrive at the conclusion that such huge quantities of imported literature should be designated as pornographic?
§ The Attorney-GeneralI do not think that it needs a great staff to decide that. This stuff if filthy trash, and nobody has any difficulty in identifying it as such.
§ Mr. William PriceCan my right hon. and learned Friend tell the House whether or not the police have seized any of the obscene literature being published by the Tory Central Office?
§ Sir G. NabarroDoes not the right hon. and learned Gentleman recall that the precursor of this flood of pornography was the legitimising of the distribution of "Lady Chatterley's Lover"? Does not he recall, also, that the leading counsel who won the case was the present Lord Chancellor—a Socialist?
§ The Attorney-GeneralThe qualities as counsel of my noble friend the Lord Chancellor have won the admiration of the whole legal profession and of both Houses of Parliament. The serious point to be made is that no pretensions of having any literary merit at all can 428 possibly be raised even by the most generous critic in respect of those publications that have been seized and, I hope, pulped.