H.—22.

Film Censorship. During the year 2,164 films of all classes, of a total length of 5,249,950 ft., were examined by the Censors. Of this number 6 were rejected in the first instance, 32 were passed subject to excisions, 203 were passed with recommendations that they were more suitable for adult audiences, and 5 were passed with the caution that they were not suitable for exhibition to children. For the third year in succession there has been no appeal lodged against the Censors' decisions. An analysis of the work shows : —

Quota Films.—The countries of origin of the quota films were as follows : Great Britain, 93 '> Australia, 3 ; Canada, 1 ; United States of America, 408. No quota films were made in New Zealand during the year under review. Rejections. —Of the six films rejected, all were " quota " or long films, three of them originating in Great Britain and three in the U.S.A. General. —During the year under review, as compared with the previous year, the number of rejections was 6 as against 5, the number of films requiring amendment dropped from 38 to 32, and the number of films recommended as more suitable for adult audiences further increased from 178 to 203, while the number considered to be definitely unsuitable for exhibition to young people was 5, the same as in the previous year. Alexander Turnbull Library. (1) Holdings and Acquisitions. The number of books increased during the year by nearly 1,000 volumes, and the total number now catalogued is 52,000. Great progress has been made in the sorting and cataloguing of the Kinsey collection, for this was much facilitated by considerable additions to our shelving-accommodation. The process of rearranging several large sections in the library is still in progress, but will make for more convenient working when completed. It was not possible to achieve the full binding programme, and only about two hundred volumes were bound. A full file of " Oceania," the Australian anthropological journal, was added to the anthropology section, thus filling a much-felt need. The bibliographical resources of the library, already very strong, were enriched by completing our series of the publications of the English Bibliographical Society, the John Rylands Library, Manchester, and the Huntington Library, San Marino, California. At the same time the final part was added to the only set in the Southern Hemisphere of Sabin's " Dictionary of Americana " —a most useful reference work, especially for early voyaging, &c. Another important and curious literary work was the first German edition of the book from which Defoe probably drew his ideas for " Robinson Crusoe." The library copy appeared at Leipzig in 1721, but the Dutch version was printed in 1708—eleven years before Defoe's book. The first five editions of the latter are in the library, with many other important volumes on the same subject. The securing of a copy of the first edition of " Tenure of Kings and Magistrates," 1649, filled a serious gap in the Milton collection. This was one of the most crucial of Milton's publications, justifying, as it did, the execution of Charles I, and identifying the author as an open supporter of the Cromwellian party. Possibly as a result he was appointed " Latin Secretary "to the Commonwealth. Since the greater of rare books are now beyond the library's resources, facsimiles are sometimes secured, and a fine group of English books of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was recently acquired. In the same field was a complete set of the quarto plays of Shakespeare in facsimile. This was the form in which the plays originally appeared, from as early as 1591. The first folio gathers most of them in the edition of 1623, but the quartos are the true originals. Other facsimiles are in the field of printing history, being reproductions of German incunabula (fifteenth century printing) in the British Museum, and another work on early book-printing in Italy. One of the most important critical editions of Shakespeare is that of Edmund Malone, whose reputation as a Shakespearean scholar was very high. A set of his edition published in 1821 in twentyone volumes was a notable addition to the Shakespearean section, already extremely strong. A set of one of the many great series of colour-illustrated books of the last century was also procured —the " Tours of Dr. Syntax," illustrated by Rowlandson, and coloured by hand. " Grangerizing " was a peculiar form that the hobby of book-collecting took last century. Granger's " Biographical History of England," 1804, lent itself to " extra-illustration " with prints from other sources, and the practice became a craze that had serious effects upon libraries all over England, for collectors were little troubled by scruples as to the whence of their illustrations. A set of this work in six volumes, duly extra-illustrated or Grangerized, was added to the collection during the year.

22

Quota or Long Films. Non-quota or Short Films. Origin. • Number. Length. Number. Length. Ft. Ft. British .. .. .. 97 721,220 463 428,410 Foreign .. .. .. 408 2,889,510 1,198 1,210,810 505 3,610,730 j 1,661 1,639,220