PART I

THE WITNESS'S QUALIFICATIONS

I am by profession a playwright. I have been in practice since
1892. I am a member of the Managing Committee of the Society of
Authors and of the Dramatic Sub-Committee of that body. I have
written nineteen plays, some of which have been translated and
performed in all European countries except Turkey, Greece, and
Portugal. They have been performed extensively in America. Three
of them have been refused licences by the Lord Chamberlain. In
one case a licence has since been granted. The other two are
still unlicensed. I have suffered both in pocket and reputation
by the action of the Lord Chamberlain. In other countries I have
not come into conflict with the censorship except in Austria,
where the production of a comedy of mine was postponed for a year
because it alluded to the part taken by Austria in the Servo-
Bulgarian war. This comedy was not one of the plays suppressed in
England by the Lord Chamberlain. One of the plays so suppressed
was prosecuted in America by the police in consequence of an
immense crowd of disorderly persons having been attracted to the
first performance by the Lord Chamberlain's condemnation of it;
but on appeal to a higher court it was decided that the
representation was lawful and the intention innocent, since when
it has been repeatedly performed.

I am not an ordinary playwright in general practice. I am a
specialist in immoral and heretical plays. My reputation has been
gained by my persistent struggle to force the public to
reconsider its morals. In particular, I regard much current