Although television is not yet available in New Zealand, its
introduction is inevitable. Overseas reports of its effects on children,
adolescents, and even adults indicate that plans to minimize any harmful
effects in New Zealand should be made without delay.

The arrival of another visual and auditory influence will add weight to
the suggestion made to the Committee that liaison should be established
between all the various censoring authorities.

* * * * *

Objectionable publications, films, broadcasting, and television have
been the subject of expert appraisal in many countries. The Committee
has made its recommendations in this section of the report fully aware
that many authorities can describe these matters as no more than
secondary influences in the causation of juvenile delinquency.

To what degree these things are directly causative no one can say. Their
influence is imponderable. But whatever their influence, the Committee
is firmly of the opinion that practical measures to control what is
offensive to many would be an indication of a renewed concern for the
moral welfare of young people. The result would be the replacement of
undesirable material with something much better.




_VIII. The School_

=(1) Teacher and the Child=