An Aerial Attack

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 128, 20 August 1927, Page 8

An Aerial Attack

Government s Radio Policy Outspoken Criticism in House THERE is something wrong upstairs—it is not on the ground floor,” declared Mr. E. J. Howard, member for Christchurch South, in the House to-day, when attacking the Government’s administration in connection with wireless. His remarks on the subject provoked some sharp interjections from the Postmaster-General, the Hon. W. Nosworthy.

(THE SUN'S Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Friday. The chief grievance of Mr. Howard was that the listeners-in —those who paid for the upkeep of radio broadcasting in New Zealand —did not get fair treatment from the authorities, while the company which controlled the broadcasting itself was being treated with favour. “Immediately you take out a licence,” he said, “you are a criminal in the

eyes of the department. You are not allowed to carry your licence in your pocket, but must have it stuck up above your listsening-in set. If you have not left it there, the inspector can come in and confiscate your set.” Mr. Howard condemned the practice of all licences having to be renewed on the same day—April 1. Perhaps it was the desire of the Department to make April fools of the listeners-in, he suggested, because he certainly had been given that impression when he made three calls, waiting half an hour on each occasion, before he could get his licence renewed. Mr. Howard felt constrained to blame not the department, but the Minister in charge—the Postmaster-General. “The Minister has not the slightest idea which end the music comes in and which end it goes out,” he went on, “but when I am talking of the Minister it is a case of having a poor receiving set. He has muddled his department, and he has not a leg to stand on. He has failed to clear up the matter of the £15,000 loan ” Mr. Nosworthy: I have cleared that up! Mr. Howard: You have not cleared it up. The previous PostmasterGeneral, although he did not have a great deal of time, certainly devoted some of his time to a study of the question, but the present PostmasterGeneral has done nothing but muddle the department right through. He knows nothing about it—and that’s that.

Mr. Nosworthy (angrily): Now, don’t get insulting. Mr. Howard: I am paying my 30s for a licence, and I know. Mr. Nosworthy: And I am running the show, and I know. STATE CONTROL, NOT MUDDLE Mr. Howard: If that is the way the people are to be assisted, then God help them. I stand for State control, and not State muddle. We have State muddle now—State muddle in a splendid service. lam speaking for 90 per cent, of the listeners-in who are paying for the service. Those who have the money have the right to call the tune. The Government was taken to task from the Opposition benches for the £15,000 loan to the Broadcasting Company, Mr. J. A. Lee considering that many private individuals would nave been prepared to take over the whole of the broadcasting instead of relying on the Government to prop up what he called a “rotten concern.” Mr. M. J. Savage (Auckland West) expressed his views in favour of Government control. Mr. Nosworthy: Would j’ou ask me to break a contract? Mr. Savage: That’s a poor excuse. Mr. Nosworthy: The contract was made before my time. Mr. Savage: The Minister is only quibbling. He is in favour of the contract, not of Government control of the service. Newspapers and cable affairs are privately controlled, and I wonder how long it will be before the Post and Telegraph Department is handed over to private control. Mr. J. A. Lee: The Cabinet is. MR. HOLLAND LEFT OUT Mr. Howard asked why it was that Ministers and departmental heads were asked to speak over the microphones at the opening of 2YA, while not only was the leader of the Opposition, Mr. H. E. Holland, left out, but he was told that there was no room for him. Mr. Nosworthy: I know nothing about that. It’s a private company. Mr. Howard: That’s what I have said all along. This thing is politically controlled, and the Reform Party is getting the benefit of the doubt all the time. Mr. F. Waite (Clutha>: Rats! Mr. Howard: Yes; the rats have gone over to that side of the House, and the hon. member for Clutha has got them in his belfry. The Postmaster-General rose to make another explanation. “I want to say once again,” he began, “that the charges laid against the Government, that we lent £15,000 to the Broadcasting Company on second mortgage ” A Voice: So you did! Mr. Nosworthy: We did not. I have made a statement showing that we hold first security—an ample security —over the assets of the company. That is one thing blown out. Members want to attack, and keep on attacking, a company established some years ago. We did not want to have control, actually, and they want to -force us to. There is nothing but faultfinding with everv effort that the Government has made.