B.B.C. IN TROUBLE

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 33, 9 February 1933, Page 19

8.8.C. IN TROUBLE

THE POLISH EPISODE

(From "The Post's" Representative.) _ LONDON, 6th January. On New Year's Eve the British Broadcasting Corporation sent out a message which included some statements on national armaments. It was said that Poland was "still spending onethird of its Budget on armaments"Italy, it was said, was "talking of disarmament and still arming"; and it was mentioned of France that her "frontiers were bristling with fortifications." The Polish Embassy has issued the following to the Press:—"The Polish Ambassador in London sent a Note to the Foreign Office to-day drawing the attention of His Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to an item in the programme of the 8.8.C. transmitted from Broadcasting Hou_e on New Year's Eve, and taking exception to certain remarks on Poland contained in the running commentary by which the 8.8.C. preceded the relays from several European stations. In his Note the Polish Ambassador protested against the use of the British radio station for purposes of political propaganda directed against a iriendlv nation, and requested that steps should j be taken to make a repetition of such I an abuse impossible." ! The Note occupies about two foolscap pages. j ' ITALIAN EXPENDITURE. _ j It is understood that the Italian Embassy has found means unofficially to j intimate to the 8.8.C. that the reference to Italy's armament policy in the New Year's Eve broadcast was not a little resented. Italy was described as "talking of disarmament and still arming," although, it is.urged, the policy of Italy is well known. The Budget Estimates for the New Year show a reduction in respect of military, naval, and air expenditure, and an increase in the Estimates for education, agriculture, and works of public utility. The 8.8.C.'s reference to Poland was made in the course of a series of brief relays from foreign capitals, designed to show how the European nations were welcoming the New Year. Each of tho relays was preceded by a short commentary by the announcer on political and social conditions in the country named. In the case of Poland the 8.8.C. voice spoke of the situation created by the existence of the Polish corridor and the size of Poland's- military expenditure. The allusion to Poland was heard in Warsaw and caused immediate resentment. The British Broadcasting Corporation declined to make any statement;