COOK STRAIT POWER DISCUSSION

New Zealand Listener, Volume 34, Issue 877, 25 May 1956, Page 5

COOK STRAIT POWER DISCUSSION

Sir,-If radio talks afe to have any value or to command any respect in New Zealand, it is essential that they be free ftom political contfol, The Supervisor of Talks is entitled to exercise the samé degtee of contfol that is exercised by. the editor of any good newspaper, in order to efisurte a suitable standatd, but the esséritial idéa of free speech, of enabling the public to hear both sides of a question that vitally affects them, is’ of paramount importance. The proposal for a Cook Strait power cable hag been freely discussed in public by Government speakerts, Three pfotamtes have been given over the air in which the Gotland cable was desctibed, and, as has been said, these programtnes from Mr. Williams in Sweden "showed the Gotland experiment in a favourable light, and, by link_ing that experiment with the New Zealand situation, did direct attention to the possibility of a similar installation here. Indeed, the programmes wete intended to arouse public interést in New Zealand." In this they certainly succeeded, and the Broadcasting Sefvice wished to give the Sulit Roath sides of the case. Broadcast discussions were therefore arranged, with some speakers on each side. One stich disctission was to be held by a South Island group, and another by a North Island group, intended to include both professional ‘and lay opinion on each side. This intention was admirably fair. Moreover, it should be remembered that addresses which the public had previously heafd or read in reports were from Governtient officials, and that the nafrow confines of Government employment, if subject to political control, do not readily permit a wide view, still less an opposing view, such as may be essential if the truth is to be discovered. The broadcast that was arranged for May 10 was, however, caficelled as qa result of pressure brought to bear upon

the Broadcasting Service, a pressure which Gould not be withstood without vigorous help from the Minister in Chatge of Broadcasting. That help was not forthcoming, atid so the freedom of speech in this country was pushed a turther step downhill towards the compelled silence of the Iron Curtain countries, Important as the whole subject of power supply certainly is to New Zealand, the matter of freedom of speech, freedom of the préss, and freedom of broadcast discussion is fat more important still. If sufficiently strong protests ate now made public, it is to be hoped that good will come out of evil, and that the Government will be forced to give the Broadcasting Service a guarantee of freedom ftom pelitical interference and censorship, equal to that how enjoyed by newspapers and by speakers at public meetings. Truth is more ifnportant than dictatorship.

ARTHUR

LUSH

(Christchurch)_

(What Mr. Lush justly calls "the essential idea of free speech," to enable the public to hear "both sides of a question that vitally affects them," is in fact one of the principles by which the Broadcasting Service regulates the discussion of controversial questions. It implies that any question should be fairly and competently discussed in -the full light of the evidence. As the Ministet in Charge of Broadcasting, the Hon. R. M. Algie, has alfeady indicated, discussion of this question is not suppressed, but was deferred by his decision till the results of a special scientific investigation that had beeti ordered and was if progtess could illuminate it.--Ed.)