NO FAREWELLS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 699, 27 November 1933, Page 4

NO FAREWELLS

On the facts so far disclosed, th Government appears to have imposed very arbitrary Xterms upon the members of the .staff of 1ZR "B" class radio station which has been taken over from private enterprise by the BroaA. casting Board. The Government is, of course, entitled to make its own arrangements in regard to the future administration of the station, but there appears to be no justification for the stipulation J that the members of the dis- 1 missed staff are not to make any { reference to the matter over the air or to hroadcast any farewells to listeners-in. - According to ordinary radio usage, farewells would be iherely an ordinary courtesy and the fact .that the Government has gone out of its way expressly to prohibit them, suggests that it is anxious not to draw attention to the changes which it has in- ' stituted. There is in this matter, as in many other official ■ operations, a decided tendency to overlook the fact that the public which pays the piper has sometimes the right to call the tune. In this palrticular "case the facts with regard to 1ZR have already been made known through the press and it appears not only unwise but foolish to attempt to muzzle officials of the station who have earned the appreciation of a wide circle of listeners-in.