BROADCAST OF THE NAVAL CONFERENCE.

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 29, 31 January 1930, Page 6

BROADCAST OF THE NAVAL CONFERENCE.

[T is inipossible to over-rate the significance of the event to which the majority of listeners in New Zealand devoted their attention on Tuesday evening from 11 p.m. to 1.30 a.m. Through radio they were enabled to listen directly to the proceedings attending the opening of the Naval Conference in the Royal Gallery of the House of Lords. Atmospheric conditions were good. The detailed atten‘tion given to other phases of human effort attendant upon the rebroadcast was such that listeners here in New Zealand, the most distant point of the Empire from London, were able to attain a remarkably high standard of reception of the utterances of all speakers. They were thus able to form a definite section ‘of the largest radio audience ever addressed at one time in the history of the world. FLFFECTIVE relays of the speeches, if all countries shared in the good atmospheric fortune enjoyed by ourselves, were made in approximately 19 countries of the world. ‘It is impossible for us to'compute the number of minds reached simultaneously by this broadcast. The transmitters of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Beam Wireless, the Trans-Atlantic Telephone and Continental Telephone Service were all used to carry the Royal speech and subsequent addresses to millions of homes. In Europe the proceedings were diffused over France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Hungary, Austria and Czecho-Slovakia, being relayed by telephone, and subsequently broadcast from all stations. Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Finland, and the National Broad«casting Company of the States were served by the 5SW short-wave transmitting station. South American States in turn drew their news from the Rugby Trans-Atlantic Telephone Service. The whole telegraphic resources of the world were in effect mobilised for this event. "THE technical perfection of the feat commands admiration, but we are becoming so accustomed to the feats of science that, while acknowledging the tremendous service rendered, we can pass

— on to considerations of human significance: This event is m definitely a milestone in the diplomatic history of the world. Whatever the outcome of the Conference itself may be, the fact remains that the right of the people to direct information upon negotiations vitally affecting their future welfare is now recognised. ‘The days of secret diplomacy have gone. It is the people now that count, It is they who represent civilisation. It is their fate that is in the balance, and it is their future that must have the final consideration, That is the full significance of the event just past. The leaders of British and American thought, in their mutual desire for restriction of competitive effort in unavailing armaments, have recognised that public opinion will accept or reject their proposals; that advance will be made towards the higher -ideal of abandonment of force only as the general body of educated opinion approves the step made. Therefore the issue has been placed directly before the people. The first move in this direction was made by the visit of the Prime Ministey of England to the United States. Throughout that visit M¢. MacDonald was placed in direct contact with the American people through radio. The psychological effect of his addresses, as thus conveyed into American homes was immense-how potent we in New Zealand have not yet fully realised. Informed,American opinion, however, asserts that his mission has done more for the cause of peace than any other single event of recent times, and that it has conveyed to the American mind a fuller understanding of the British point of view. ~ QN to that initial advance is now welded this further step in the _ wider field of world peace, of placing diplomatic discussions between the Five Powers in the full blaze of the public eye. The significance of this event lies not only in that fact, but in the fact that it marks in one sense the attainment of world unity. Modern means of communication have now been so perfected that the world can listen to the whole proceedings in that impressive Gallery of the House of Lords, with its dim background as the home of juiisprudence .and the fine ideals of human dignity and unity. Britain gave the world the ideal of domestic, freedom; it is fitting that she should be the meeting-place in a further step towards the ideal of international amity,