POWER POSITION EASIER

Chronicle (Levin), 27 August 1947, Page 5

POWER POSITION EASIER

Press Associiction) . .

Relaxation Of Broadcasting Restrictions

(Per

WELLINGTON, Aug. 0s 'f As from iioon today the present broadcasting restrictions will be eased and stations will close down only between the hours of 8.10 a.m. to 8.40 a.m., from 11 a.m: to noon und from 5 to 6^30 p.m. on Monday to Friday of each week. This was announced today in a joint statement issued by the Minister in charge of the State Hydro-Electric Departmerit, Mr. Semple, and the Minister of Broadcasting, Mr. Jones. The statement said: "While the electr'ic supply position in both the North and South Islands has improved considerably, u is still neeessary for the demand for power at times of the peak load jto be held down to within the capacity of the generating stations. According to seasonal conditions, the peak load may occur at any one of the three times in the day during which broadcasting is still to be restricted. "The value to the electric supply position of the broadcasting restrictions does not lie so much in the power saved by the closing down of transmission as in the power saved by • several hundred thousand" receiving sets being sxvitched off. Listeners are therefore particularly requested not to tune into alternative' overseas programmes when local stations go off the air, otherwise the purpose of the local shutdowns, which is to save electric power, will be very largely defeated. "As soon as the supply position warrants a change the present reduced hours of broadcasting will be further relaxed."