BROADCAST TALK WAS NOT CENSORED

Chronicle (Levin), 4 June 1947, Page 6

BROADCAST TALK WAS NOT CENSORED

-press Assoeiation

EXACTLY AS WRITTEN SAYS PROF. SHELLEY

By Telegravh-

W JcJJLIjIJN CrlUlN , June 3. ' ' Dr. Percy Dunsheath 's Sunday evening talk on the electricity supply in New Zealand was broadeast exactly as he wrote it and as he himself spoke it "for reeording before he left New Zealand," said the Director Of Broadeasting, Professor . James Shelley, today, when commenting on ' the statement made in Auckland by Dr. Dunsheath 's, brother, Mr. B. J. Dunsheath. "The facts are, " said Professor Shelley, "that Dr. Dunsheath whp had alreacly broadeast on his arrival in New ZeaJ land, wras invited to talk again betore h.is departure. He- aceepted the invitation and submitted the script of his propOsed talk. ' This was aceepted without one word of alteration with nothing deleted and nothing added. Dr. Dunsheath recorded it exactly as he had written it and the record was broadeast in full on Sunday evening. The reason for the lapse of time between the reeording and broadcasting is that these Sunday evening talks on the national link are usually arranged some weeks in advance and it was not known until just before Dr. Dunsheath left the country that he could accept the service's invitation to speak." Confirmation of Professor Shelley 's denial is9 contained in a letter which Dr. Dunsheath himself wrote to Mr. E. T. M. Kissel, general manager of the State Hydro-Electrie Department, from Australia. Dr. Dunsheath enclosed a copy of a letter he had receiyed from the New Zealand Herald. This letter read: "After y?u left Auckland we were informed that a manuscript which you had prepared for broadcasting had been censored and tiiHf several passages had been deleted. Jfor;- example, we Were. told you had expr'qssed -.the viewtktlt jjtttfeb.l largie Atfekbi ; '.^eiier.atijlg plante'rbwotilil be desirkble Imports Bpt this opinion had- been. deleted . jaecause it Whs ! contrary . to , Government' poli&y. \VoUld it be posslble for you'; tb'seud at youij .earliest- convenienee; a'; statement setting ouf'ilthe.! circuiiis'tajtibqs; undef whi'ch -'tlife broadeast was' invited and prepared and deseribing any altera-

tioiis whiih wefe made with or without your consent? Could you also sencl a copy 'of your original manuscript or a statement giving your views on the way in which we, in this country, should taekle the power crisis of the present moment and the needs of teh figure?" Dr. Dunsheath replied to the New Zeatend Herald as follows: "I thank you for your letter of April 14 referring to the broadeast -which I recorded m Auckland before leaving New Zealand. I an; afraid you have been very seriously misled on the question of censorship. I certainly prepared several drafts before adopting the final version but the broadeast was recorded exactly as submitted and you may take it as giving my personal views. " [According to Mr. B. J. Dunsheath, of Auckland, important comments and recommendations which his brother, Dr. P. Dunsheath, the eminent British elec-' trical engineer, made during his recent visit to New Zealand were not included in his recorded broadeast over the national stations on Sunday evening. He said that these comments and recommendations were in the original script, but the intended broadeast, and that aetually heard over the air, differed. As a result the public was given a misleading impression, he claimed. After Dr. Dunsheath had left for Australia a group of engineers, on april 30, was invited to kear a recorded version of his address at 1YA studio, he said, and some expressed surprise that it differea from the original seript which they had read, he concluded.]