"(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 not strictly indecent within the meaning of the Act are nevertheless objectionable from other points of view. In many the ethical standards of the characters are low. The quality of the print and illustrations varies from the indifferent to the very poor, and must have a serious effect on children's eyesight. In a number of comics the grammar and vocabulary are likewise bad. "It is said that children learn from what they see and hear around them. If this is so it would appear that the assiduous reading of comics tends to counteract the work of teachers which costs the country so much. "An Inter-departmental Committee in 1952 recommended the introduction of a system of registration. The Committee's original recommendations were: that publishers or importers of comics should apply for registration of every title and that only suitable titles should be registered. The sale of unregistered comics was to be an offence. This procedure may be preferable to the subsequently suggested system of automatic registration followed by de-registration upon complaint.