WIRELESS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, 18 November 1927, Page 5

WIRELESS

AMENDED AUSTRALIAN AGREEMENT FREE LICENSES TO THE PRESS. COMPANY RETAINS STATIONS. (By Cable —Press Assn. — Copyright.) (Received 18, 9.35 a.m.) Canberra, Nov. 18. In the House of Representatives, the Hon, S. M. Bruce introduced a bill to amend the agreement between the Commonwealth Government and the Amalgamated Wireless of Australia Limited. It provides for free patent rights to licensed broadcasting stations, radio dealers and listenersin from Amalgamated Wireless with a payment to Amalgamated Wireless by the Commonwealth Government of 3d per month on behalf of each licensed listener and the retention by Amalgamated Wireless of the stations p-hich it at present owns, the new agreement to remain operative for five years. The Commonwealth Government and the company must agree on the form of license to be signed by users of patents. The company agrees to grant a license free of royalty to every newspaper and every broadcasting station in the Coipmonweaith for the purpose of receiving official news bulletins from Britain. It also agrees to prosecute as expeditiously as possible actions whicli already have been instituted for infringement of patent rights. It is agreed that th© actions are for rights important to broadcasting. Unless these actions are finished within twelve months sin favour of the comitany, the agreement provides that the company will commence corresponding actions in New Zealand.

The provision bearing on the retention of stations by Amalgamated Wireless includes a clause that all equipment shall be modernised and the stations reorganised. Payments to the PostmasterGeneral’s Department in respect of messages handled by the Post Offiea are eliminated, while the Commonwealth promises to provide the company with the necessary land for line connections and internal communications at the usual rates. The company is not allowed to transmit or receive inland messages unless required by the Commonwealth Government in cases of interruption to line circuits. The company will be entitled to establish and operate commercial wireless services between Australia and ships at sea, with aircraft, and between territories and other countries.