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By arrangement with the Australian Broadcasting Commission, the results of the referendum for extension of the Federal Government's powers were rebroadcast. Thanks are also due to other broadcasting Services, particularly for facilities afforded NewZealanders with the Forces overseas to broadcast messages to New Zealand, which have been recorded and rebroadcast. Short-wave Broadcasts.—The Service broadcast each evening over Station 2YA and the Post and Telegraph Department's short-wave station, ZLT 7, a ten-minute digest of New Zealand news supplied by the Director of Publicity. Development of Neiv Zealand Talent.—ln keeping with the established policy of encouraging New Zealand talent, broadcasting engagements were given to such local artists, societies, and musical combinations as had attained a reasonable standard of performance. There were 2,767 broadcasts by local artists and 560 recitals by local musical societies, choirs, and bands, as mentioned previously in the report. During the year the secondary and primary schools' music festivals were broadcast at certain centres, while school choirs broadcast performances in other towns. Among broadcasts of New Zealand compositions were a children's operetta, "The Sleeping Beauty," written and composed by the Rev. G. E. Dallard, and the first composition to win the Philip Neill Memorial Prize, " Prelude and Fugue in G Minor," by Douglas Lilburn. Mr. Lilburn also conducted the N.B.S. Orchestra in his " Sinfonia for Strings." In the talks and dramatic activities many hundreds of engagements were given to local actors and speakers, either for recording or direct broadcasts. The Service continued to purchase scripts of talks, plays, and features by local writers. Commonwealth Broadcasting Conference. —At the invitation of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Director of Broadcasting and the Chief Engineer attended the Commonwealth Broadcasting Conference, which held its first meeting on 15th February and closed on 9th March, 194.5, in London. The Conference was called in order that the national broadcasting organizations of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and India should be able to review their co-operation during the war years and to consult with each other on how best their co-operation, which has been of such benefit to the Commonwealth and the world, could be continued and developed in times of peace. Parallel with the meetings of the main Conference a technical sub-committee sat to cover the same field on the engineering and scientific sides. The Conference came to unanimous agreement that, in all the main fields covered, co-operation should be continued and developed to the fullest possible extent. The national broadcasting organizations represented appreciated the importance of exchanging broadcast news, programmes, and services within the Commonwealth. In the sphere of Commonwealth news the Conference took the widest possible measures to ensure that there will be a genuine flow of news and information by means of broadcasting throughout the Commonwealth. The Conference recommended the pooling of resources and inter-availability of material to this end without in any way supplanting the work of the regular news agencies and news sources. In this field the Conference appreciated that there were many ways in which it could use its own medium of broadcasting to ensure to listeners throughout the world, the widest, most responsible, and most accurate information on Commonwealth affairs. The Conference believed that not only greater understanding, but better listening, should ensue in times of peace from the exchange of programmes between its constituent members. Such programmes will clearly have to make their way on their merits, but it was the conviction of the Conference that each national broadcasting organization within the Commonwealth had a valuable contribution to make to the others. It was hoped, by exchange of programmes, by co-operation in the broadcasting of great national events within the Commonwealth, and by the pooling of resources and the exchange of facilities and information, to provide listeners within the Commonwealth with the widest range of studio and actuality programmes which broadcasting could give. The future of rebroadcasting of each other's programmes and the use of transcription services was carefully studied, and problems of post-war transmission were also discussed. Believing that nothing but good could come from the widening of individual horizons and the greatest possible variety of experience, both to the individuals concerned and to their organizations, the Conference made plans for the secondment of picked members of staff between one broadcasting organization within the Commonwealth and another. It was felt that such a process must have a valuable cumulative effect of widening knowledge of the Commonwealth and bringing to broadcasting a greater authority when dealing with its problems. The Conference also dealt with the problems of standards of fairness and international courtesy in broadcasting. It was felt that by establishing and maintaining true standards of objectivity the Commonwealth broadcasting organizations could positively promote a greater measure of international understanding and good will. The technical sub-committee performed valuable work in studying problems of improving coverage and transmission, particularly on short wave-lengths; sound recording and reproduction; the collection, dissemination, and practical use of ionosphere data, studio acoustics, frequency-modulated transmission, and other matters. It was hoped that listeners would benefit on the technical side also from the work begun by the Conference and the continuation which has been planned for the exchange of information and data. It was also hoped in certain fields to bring about a degree of standardization which will be of general benefit.

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