SIX INDUSTRIAL DOCUMENTARIES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 486, 15 October 1948, Page 19

SIX INDUSTRIAL DOCUMENTARIES

New Aid-to-Britain Programmes

ROGRAMMES describing six New: Zealand industries and their economic importance to this country and to Great Britain will be broadcast by the four’: ZB stations and 2ZA next month and in December as part of the contribution of the NZBS to the Aid to Britain Campaign. They consist of on-the-spot recordings made in various parts of New Zealand and linked up in dramatic form by the Productions Department of the NZBS. The title of the first programme is Frozen Harvest, which is the story of the New Zealand frozen meat trade. Starting with a short illustration of conditions in England, it moves quickly to the New Zealand scene, the activities on sheep and cattle farms and in the saleyards. The "flashback" method is used to show how the meat trade began and the whole programme, which occupies a little more than a quarter of an hour, ends on a note of achievement, with a compliment to the pioneers of the industry and those who carry it on. Shiploads of Gold and Grassland Story have their origin in the New Zealand dairy industry and deal, respectively, with butter and cheese production. The themes are similar and each story ‘contains a short survey of pastoral history, the development of the factory system of production and the export of refrigerated dairy produce. Historical information was recorded in the studio and the contemporary activities on the

spot at butter and cheese factories in the Manawatu district. Each of these programmes takes about 15 minutes. Pipes and Spears As its title implies, Tobacco Survey (a half-hour programme) is an account of the New Zealand tobacco industry from the growers’ angle, and its. development fromm early colonial times. It is illustrated by interviews with tobacco growers and workers in the Nelson district and, besides being entertaining, it offers a good deal of information about the leaf and its cultivation. Lines of Trade goes back to the early days when there was no such thing as overseas trade, in the sense in which we understand it to-day. The story tells of the part played by transport in supporting a nation and, taking a minor commodity as an example, describes its delivery to its destination. This is an 18-minutes’ programme. The romantic title, Men with Green Spears, has been chosen for a half-hour inquiry into reasons for the existence of the flax industry. A series of interviews with growers .and others from Foxton to Invercargill tells something about what Phormium tenax means to New Zealand and to the British Commonwealth of Nations. These programmes, for which Stephen Solly wrote the script, will be heard each Sunday at 9.0 p.m., starting on November 14, when 1ZB will broadcast Frozen Harvest, 2ZB Shiploads of Gold, 3ZB Grassland Story, 4ZB Tobacco Survey and 2ZA Lines of Trade.