“PUBLIC MUST PAY”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 150, 15 September 1927, Page 11

“PUBLIC MUST PAY”

DUTY ON FILMS ASSOCIATION’S VIEW Press Association. WELLINGTON, Wednesday. The proposed 200 per cent, increase in duty on imported foreign films is not looked upon with favour by those who provide these entertainments. A representative of the New Zealand Motion Picture Exhibitors’ Association says that if the Government intends to stimulate the production of British films they have gone the wrong way about it. In the case of the raw film only, the reliable service is from America and Germany. In the case of the finished product, increased duty will not assist Great Britain. Contracts which exhibitors have with American distributing companies contain a clause which automatically passes on to the exhibitors any increase fin duty. It says in effect that the public must pay duty as “British films are not there to be bought.” Mr. A. H. Messenger, of the Government Publicity Department, says that the department regularly imports 10,000 to 15,000 feet a week. The new duty will not affect these films as they are made in Great Britain. It was essential to use the very best available material, it being too expensive to waste. German film had been tried but found to be not satisfactory. An American firm was putting up works all over the world. was imported by the department was from works already established in England.