DISAPPOINTMENT

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 2, 29 July 1927, Page 16

DISAPPOINTMENT

"REBROADCASTS IN CHRISTCHURCH Te HINDERED BY COUNCILLORS | Just" when the Broadcasting Company had found a site ideally suited for a receiving station and proposed to make rebroadcasts of Z2YA and over: seas stations a regular feature in Chrisichurch, unlooked-for opposition came from certain members of the City Council. | | | | For the purpose of rebroadcasting the description of the Hawke’s BayWairarapa Ranfurly Shield match, and for the official opening of 2YA, a tempotary aerial was erected in Victoria Park, Cashmere Hills. So successful was the experiment and so general the public approval, that the Broadcasting Company sought to make the station a permonent fixture, at the pleasure of the controlling authority, of course. When the company applied to the City Council, however, some opposition was raised, Couucillor McCombs, a lady member, strongly attacking the company. She said: "(My own private opinion is that the mater of broadcasting should never have been handed over to a private company, but that it should be in the hands, of the Government and the municipalities. | No tompany should be allowed to exploit persons wishing to make use of the radio, and I am going to oppose it.’ The company thereupon withdrew its application and the Christchurch people are now wondering if, and where, there will be another rebroadcast of QYA. The Cashmere Hills site was chosen because it was eminently suitable for the purpose, from a receiving point of view and from the point of view of telephonic communication, which, if. the company had secured a permit from the City Council, it would have perfected, The wisdom of the company’s officers in choosing the site was demonstrated by the excellencé of the two rebroadcasts. in question. The park is under the control of the Christchurch City Council. Permission for a temporary installation was given by the chairman of the Reserves Committee, Conncillor Clyde Carr, and confirmed by the committee, which further recommended the council to grant permission for a permanent installation at a nominal rental, with a proviso for ‘one montl:’s notice on either side. The. council. declined to accept’ the cominittee’s recommendation, however, some members choosing to regard the proposal as involving a possible alienation of public reserves! Councillor E..H Andrews had_ sugfested that the necessary batteries, ete., coufd be housed in a corner of a practically disused kiosk on the sum-. mit of the hill mpon which the temporary masts had been erected. The park is mostly leased to the present caretaker as a sheep run, and there is a tearoom in connection with the. caretaker’s residence for the actommodation of visitors. The. caretaker had expressed cheerfully his wilAineness to keep an eye on the installation. Altogether, the proposal was an attractive one from the company’s point of view, and a reasonable otte from that of several of the councillors. It was, thowever, successfully side-tracked bv some of the disaffected councillors, and the company decided to withdraw its application. ‘Sic transit gloria mundi."’ And "hine illae lacrimae." Following on the Citv Council discussion the company read numerous offers of the use of land in various localities. but not one of them has the satne recommendations that the site in Victoria Park has. The matter of rebroadcasts in Christchurch is therefore at present much in douht. a fact to he regretted in view of the great public interest in and demand for then. ,