BRITISH FILM QUOTA

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 410, 19 July 1928, Page 15

BRITISH FILM QUOTA

EXHIBITORS OBJECT TO LEGISLATION Press Association. WELLINGTON, Tuesday. The half-yearly conference of the Motion Picture Exhibitors' Association to-day considered the proposed legislation on a British film quota and other matters, and has come to conclusions which will be presented to the Prime Minister. The main objection to the Bill in its incidence upon the New Zealand theatre-owner are: (1) It sets up far too costly and cumbrous a hesitative machinery to reach its objective. (2) The compulsory quota in its present form will in all probability defeat the very purpose aimed at by its sponsors. The chairman of the meeting, Mr. O. N. Gillespie, said: “It is easy to see that the very principle of compulsion is almost inevitably sure to result in the showing of a poor British product, thus doing irreparable damage to the cause of the British film. Uneconomic interference such as this in the ordinary cause of business can only be justified by its complete success in reaching its Imperial objective. We are going to suggest that a Film Board of Trade b e set up with power to make regulations on such matters as the quota, but only when they are shown to be necessary. We have our own machinery to effectuate the showing of a proper quantity of British film and this will probably do better than if regulated by Parliamentary action.”