RECEIVING LICENSES IN NEW ZEALAND.

Shannon News, 29 November 1929, Page 1

RECEIVING LICENSES IN NEW ZEALAND.

NEARING 50,000 MARK. That the service provided by the New Zealand Broadcasting Company, together with those by nearly a dozen private or semi-private stations (known colloquially as “B” stations) is meeting with public approval is evidenced in the steady increase in the number of new licenses issued by the Post and Telegraph Department. The rise in the total number of licenses has been the feature of this year. It does not soem so very long ago that the R.B.C. set the 40,000 mark as that which was necessary- to enable them to give the extended "service promised at the commencement of their operations. ’ That number was reached towards the end of the last license year. It is interesting to compare the figures of last •year with those of this, On August 31, 1928, the licenses in force * totalled 38,835; while at August 31, 1929, the total was 47,300- a gain of approximately 22 per cent. The greatest increase per cent, was in the ease of Dunedin, where the figures rose from 2072 in August, 1928, to 3999 in August last—a gain of nearly 50 per cent. Wellington came next with an increase of 27 per cent.; then came Auckland with 17| per cent., with Christchurch just wagging the tail with 10 per cent. The- Secretary of the Post Office has announced the figures as at September 30, 1929, as follows: —Auckland, 15,841 (a gain of 353 during the month); Canterbury, 8057 (a gain of 142); Otago, 4179 (a, gain of 180); Wellington, 19,950 (a gain of 640), giving a grand total of 48,627 licenses. Of these, 4.7,236 were receiving licenses, 1010 were dealers’ licenses, the balance—3 Bl—being made up of broadcasting, amateur operators and other licenses. The total increase in numbers for the moiitli of September was 1300 and, if that rate of increase continues, the . figures at the end of the license year (March 31st, 1930) should be in the vicinity of 50,000. If the 50,000 mark should be reached before Maroh, the Government and the company should consider they (and the public) have done remarkably well.