Will the Quota Come?

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 170, 8 October 1927, Page 25 (Supplement)

Will the Quota Come?

THE Minister distinctly says he prefers the quota system. A Sill to show his preference is promised for later in tiie session. NOT REVENUE RAISER In view of the possibility that the threepence per lineal foot on American films which Mr. Stewart had first contemplated, might be passed on to the public he has abandoned the proposal. The tax was never contemplated in the nature of a revenue producer. It. was intended to assist the British industry. British films will come in free as before. whether the quota system will achieve all that is promised by its advocates remains to be seen. The Minister’s decision not to increase the duty on American films w 11, naturally, be received with much satisfaction throughout the Dominion, particularly in trade circles. The tax must necessarily have been paid by some one. The chances were that th€! general public would have footed the bill. The American distributors most certainly would not have done so. Pi'ovision for such an emergency is invariably provided in their contracts with New Zealand releasers. There is not the slightest doubt as to our desire to foster the British film industry. So many poor pictures have been sent to us in the past., however, that New Zealanders are rather chary as to what will come in the future. The British product must be improved. It must possess action, artists of real screen ability and that technique by which the Americans and Germans invariably have more than maintained their creative superiority. BRITISH FILMS WANTED New Zealanders want British Films. No Dominion is more British in sympathy. Yet we must have the right type of Film.

No Increased Film Tax Customs Minister Abandons Proposal (By the MOVIE EDITOR.) r old duties on films will remain. That is, for the time being, at any rate. It would appear that the Minister of Customs, the Hon. Downie Stewart, has acted wisely in listening to the prompting of trade interests. The object which the proposed tax was primarily to foster —the introduction of British films—would not have been furthered to any appreciable extent. The true interests of ElritLsh picture production, he believes, can best be served by the quota method.

Excellent work is being done nowadays, incidentally, by the British gazettes. Delightful glimpses of the British countryside, the land of our

fathers, are interwoven with newsy scraps from around the Metropolis. We have the stories. We have the artists. We even possess the money. British films must come. What can stop them.