EMPIRE COMMUNIGATION

Hokitika Guardian, 1 August 1928, Page 4

EMPIRE COMMUNIGATION

CABLE . CONIfEUENCE’S REPORT ‘ EXAMINED. (British, Official IVireless). RUGBY, July 29. The report of the. Imperial. Wireless and Cable Conference now awaits discussion by the Empire Governments before effect can be given to its recommendations. Meanwhile it is being examined closely .in the. Press.

The sweeping nature of the recommendations is recognised on all hands and “The Times” says that from eco nomic and political viewpoints they arc of tho most far-reaching importance. “ Economically they inaugurate a new . era in the history of Empire communication, which is. itself an achievement of the highest order. Politically ,their unanimous character is a remarkable monument of Imperial co-operation. These far-sighted recommendations provide beyond doubt the right solution to what but a short time ago seemed an insoluble problem. Any less bold and comprehensive scheme would have been doomed to failure from the outset. Tho solution proposed is built up on two fundamental principles, unity ol control and. private enterprise, neither of which could be neglected without the certainty of failure by combining the whole system of Empire rommunie.’.tinns in one vast amalgamation. It has rendered possible the advantages and economies of modern, lnrger-scale enterprise, scientific co-ordination, the elimination of wasteful competition,and all opportunities for economy which these alone can bring.”

The “Daily Telegraph” congratulates the conference on the proposals which constitute a revolutionary reorganisation ol' all the telegraphic services linking the Empire together. It says that the arguments in favour of these sweeping changes arc irresistible except on the ground which it describes as a purely doctrinaire point of view that national ownership is a thing sac-red in itself to which all other considerations must give way.

Among Liberal and Labour newspapers some exception is taken to the report oil these grounds, and it is clear that tho opposition in Parliament will concentrate primarily on tho State ownership issue, when the report is debated in the House of Commons next week.

Tho “ Daily Herald ” protests vigorously against the abandonment of tho principle of public ownership, and the “ Manchester Guardian ” questions the wisdom of British and Dominion Governments selling their cable and wireless services'to'a private combine. The “Guardian” demands careful consideration of whether adequate safeguards are provided in the report to ensure against the subordination of public in terosts to profit-making in the propose ! new combine.

The Liberal journal, the “Daily Chronicle,” on the other hand, reminds the advocates ol State ownership that many States are involved in this reorganisation. It adds: “(an it he thought that a State enterprise, run jointly by such a multiplicity of States, would he a hopeful way of dealing with a business proposition, even if, as is not tho case, they were all keen on such an experiment? Nobody, except those who 'make it- dogma to insist on State ownership in all conditions could find conditions here auspicious. So we are brought almost inevitably to the solution of the Imperial public utility <>l a company such as the conference’s report suggests. Safeguards are needed, Init- these points are covered explicitly and adequately in the report.”