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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1976

FEWER OBJECTIONABLE COMIC BOOKS ON MARKET

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THERE HAVE BEEN 87 SEIZURES OF NEARLY 9,000 MAGAZINES CONTAINING +HARD CORE PORNOGRAPHIC MATERIAL SINCE THE OBJECTIONABLE PUBLICATIONS ORDINANCE CAME INTO FORCE, THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, THE HON. JOHN HOBLEY, SAID TODAY.

IN REPLY TO QUESTIONS BY THE HON. MISS KO SIU-WAH, HE SAID SOME 8,000 OF THE MAGAZINES SEIZED HAD BEEN IMPORTED.

IN ADDITION, 196 OBJECTIONABLE FILMS AND 41 FILM PROJECTORS HAD BEEN SEIZED. THERE WERE 70 PROSECUTIONS AND IN 64 CASES CONVICTIONS WERE RECORDED.

MR. HOBLEY SAID THAT THE PENALTIES VARIED FROM THE BINDING OVER OF A STREET HAWKER TO A FINE OF $12,000 ON A PERSON CONVICTED OF DISTRIBUTING OBJECTIONABLE FILMS.

IN ONE CASE, HE ADDED, A SENTENCE OF FIVE MONTHS' IMPRISONMENT WAS IMPOSED ON A PERSON CONVICTED OF POSSESSING OBJECTIONABLE FILMS AND MAGAZINES.

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL SAID: +PORNOGRAPHIC MATERIAL CONTINUES TO BE AVAILABLE IN HONG KONG, BUT IN SMALL INDIVIDUAL QUANTITIES.+

POLICE ACTION AGAINST IT WAS CONTINUOUS, HE ADDED.

MR. HOBLEY POINTED OUT THAT A PARTICULAR PROBLEM BEFORE THE ENACTMENT OF THE ORDINANCE WAS THE WIDESPREAD DISTRIBUTION OF OBJECTIONABLE MATERIAL OF A KIND LIKELY TO BE READ BY CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE.

THE ORDINANCE, HE SAID, HAD A CONSIDERABLE EFFECT ON THE TRADE EVEN BEFORE IT BECAME LAW AND THERE HAD BEEN A MARKED DECLINE IN THE AVAILABILITY OF OBJECTIONABLE COMIC BOOKS.

+THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE TELLS ME THAT THAT HAS CONTINUED TO BE THE POSITION AND THAT PUBLICATIONS OF THAT TYPE DO NOT NOW PRESENT A SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM,+ HE SAID.

MR. HOBLEY ADDED THAT 148 COMIC BOOKS HAD BEEN SEIZED AND THERE HAD BEEN ONE PROSECUTION IN RESPECT OF A COMIC BOOK SINCE THE ORDINANCE CAME INTO FORCE.

+ IN THAT CASE FINES WERE IMPOSED ON THE PUBLISHER, PRINTER AND TWO DISTRIBUTORS,

HE SAID.

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