POLICY DEBATED

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 35, 4 November 1937, Page 3

POLICY DEBATED

had nof been presented to the House. .The Bill, he thought, was an effort to get the Government out of the muddle into which it had got itself in conneetion with broadcasting. It provided for the division of authority of the^ !, service which should be operating junder one head and would tend towards ,duplication of control, duplieation of Iprogrammes and accounts. He supposed the poor old taxpayer or listener ryould have to foot the bill. I Mr. Hamilton advoeated the censorship of matter put over the air and said |h# did not think the Minister himself agreed with everything that was broadHfi. He went on to deal with the ap-, pointment of the Gontroller of Commercial Broadcasting, stating that they had only the Prime Minister '3 authority for it that he was competent for the job. He thought the present standard of broadcasting was being lowered and that was the effect of commercialising the service. Wherever commercialisation crapt in the service depreciated. He instanced one particular record which had been broadcast from the commercial station about which he had lieard a number of compiaints. The whole aspect oi' broadcasting to-day demonstrated that it should be taken away from both- political and commercial control, said Mr. Hamilton,, but the Government apparently thoughtit had found a new weapon and that through commercial stations it could tell the public what it could have and; all about it. If .the pre vious _Go vernment had attempted to disseminate the. propaganda the present Governmexitj was putting on .the air it would have' been howled down by the Labour Party and he considered the efforts of the Director of Broadcasting to improve the service had been largely nullified by the commercial stations. '* The Secretary for Housi'ng (Mr. Js A. Lee) said* the Opposition had criticised the Government for commercialising the radio, but asked what had previous Governments done in handing - over the broadcasting service to a broadcasting company. The Opposition had advoeated - cutting advertisements from the radio. They might cut advertisements from the newspapers as well. Were newspaper .advertisements carrying . enlightenment and uplif ting entertainment to the public, he asked. He proceeded to deal with the jamming of the Friendly ^Koad station, 1ZB in Auckland, just prior to the last eleetion, detailing at length the incidents concerning the matter. .The station had been jammed at -.the direction of the then Government. Mr. Coates: That is incorrect. The Government knew nothing about it. Mr. Lee said Mr. Scrimegour was to be put off the air and his license was to be cancelled. How could the past Government get out of that t ■ Mr. Coates: We had not given instructions for the station to be jammed. Mr. Lee contended .the Opposition was continuing its venJetta against Mr. Scrimegour. In reply fo an interjection by Mr.j Coates, he held that everybody con* nected with the jamming had lied. The Speaker: Is the honourable member saying that of any member of this House. Mr. Lee; The House was dissolved after the incident. The Speaker; I'm afraid I cannot accept that. Mr. Lee: All right, I will say they misrepresented the position. The Opposition to commercial broadcasting, he said, had come from vested interests who were hit where it hurt by such broadcasting. Mr. Coates: That 's too weak, tooweak! ' Mr. W. J. Broadfoot contended that on quito a number of occasions Mr. Scrimegour had broken the conditions of his broadcasting license. The Government of the day should have immediately put him off the air, but had given him every chance. Speaking of the jamming, he held that Government members jammed the speech of evvtfy member of the Opposition by interjections whenever they rose to their f eet. He also criticised the broadcasts arranged by the Prime Minister 's department. .This was unfair because the right of reply was denied members of the Opposition. The Controller of Commercial Broadcasting had stated that he had not disseminated political propaganda over .the air, but Mr. Broadfoot thought he had done so. The Controller had been pitchforked into his position. The Government merely said he was the right man and he Was . given the position, although .every precaution had been taken about the appointment of the DirOctor of Broadcasting. He thought the! former ap-^ pointment must have been made as a rcward for political service. Mr. Broadfoot continued to deal with the purchase "of B stations and was asking what proflt .the Controller of Commercial Broadcasting had made from the sale of B class stations in Auckland, when Mr, Bichards interjected: "That.'s a dirty. mean attitude." He was required to withdraw the interjection by the Speaker and did so. Mr. Broadfoot advoeated a Boyal Commission to inquiro into the Australian rights for the New Zealand Broadcasting Servico and said it was timo: the whole question of advertising over tho air was cleared up. Dr. McMillan, speaking of the jamming of the Friendly Eoad station m Auckland, said if the regulationa had been broken, surely the manly thing to do would have been to have rsvoked its lic6nse. He quoted from Hansaid to show that only twelve' months ago Mr. Hamilton had said the service irom tlio station ought to be stopped. The Opposition was demandiug the freedom of tlie Press, but at the same timo was asking for a censo;'&Jiip of broadcasting. Mr. K. J. Holyoake said Mr. Hamilton had never denied that if the regulations were broken by the Friendly Eoad station the service should be stopped, but he did not know what steps had been taken to etop the siarion goigg oyer the air. It .wae jhs. A8ti$A

of a.generous man to take the respansibility for what * was, • as ' Mr. Lee stated, a departmental officer 's act, .Eev. C. L. Carr said tho Government erred on the side of fairness and generosity in providing facilities for broadcasting the views of member3 on all sides of the House. With regard to divided control in broadcasting, one could not expect the same control for national and commercial service3, because they were totally different things and each had a diifdrent goai. They had been told .that B stations were to be' retained. ,They wera retained and B stations to-day were under the con- ■ trol of tho Controller of Commercial Broadcasting and had beon res'ponsible for the YA stations ' ' puiliug up their socks" and giving a better service. • In fact, he considered 90 per cent. of the listeners were listening to-aay u> the commercial stations. The debate was interi'uptsd by th ■ adjou.i'ament at 10.S0-- _ - '