"Evening Star," Dunedin

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 7, 28 August 1931, Page 9

"Evening Star," Dunedin

[t ig nearly a year since the Hon. Mr. Donald (Postmaster-General) announced his ideas for taking over control of the radio broadcasting service in New Zealand and making it an activity of the Post and Telegraph Department when the contract of the Government ys i the present company terminates & "the end of this year. Not much has béén heard 6f this bright suggestion since then; the whole matter, we have been told, is under the consideration of the Government; and the fact that the Government has now asked the existing company to express its views on ‘how the service should be continued will be read as.an indication that in the circles nearest to him, among his own Ministerial colleagues, Mr. Donald has been unable to make converts for his schemes. That is just as well, because the last thing this country wants is more State services -it has already too many of them; and to a Government control of broadcasting there are very strong objections, both material and associated with principle. "4 The bait of the Postmaster-General, esigned to make his scheme attractive to the general public, was an offer to provide ten new minor stations at provincial towns and to raise the power of three of the city stations, which do not stand in need of such an improve-

ment. We pointed out at the time ‘that the new stations and improved stations could not be had for nothing, and that the Government had no money to spend on such luxuries. Government expenditure on them would be no less than a crime in the present circumstances, when the task which makes most worry for our rulers-and also for ourselvesis retrenchment in every direction. So much for the most material objection to Mr. Donald’s idea. The objection of principle is given new force from an incident which occurred last week. An address which was given by the retiring president of the Dunedin ber of Commerce was broadcast, inspite of the fact that it contained strong political comments, which are supposed to be prohibited by the broadeasting regulations. That was the result of forgetfulness or of misunderstanding. Despite all the reasons for assuming that the chamber of commerce address would deal entirely with commerce, and not with politics, preeautions were taken against it, and they miscarried. It is natural to suppose that henchmen of the Labour Party, who, with elections approach- , ing, have made the most of it, were not . more annoyed by it than the Broadsting Company in seeing its rules flouted. That invasion of the air by politics could be called an accident. Nothing like it-or nothing that we can remember-had occurred previously in six years. But what would the chances be of this or the other political party

having its susceptibilities outraged, not rarely but often, with Government control of broadcasting? The servants of any Government could not expect to displease it by lauding its political ideas above all others. If the propaganda were subtle it would be only the worse. It has been suggested that, in the event of the Government taking over control, it would not attempt to prescribe the actual broadcasts, but would leave that to others. But the more consideration is given to it the more must such division of authority be judged impracticable, and no Gov-

ernment department which gets its hands on half of a public service is likely to be satisfied long with less than the whole. The Radio Broadcasting Company of New Zealand has done very well for half a dozen years. It has built up, out of almost nothing, a service highly creditable to this Dominion, and, as the balance-sheets which we publish in another column indicate, it has not grown rich on it. Licensed listeners have increased. from 3000 to 60,000, and, in terms of the understanding given when first legislation .was promoted, the natural thing to do now would be to let the company carry on. ‘There is a claim, however, to a greater voice of the licensed listeners in its direction, and this would be met by the proposals which the Broddeasting Company has drafted at the Government’s invitation. These would provide for a public company, with larger capital, in place of the private company, the listeners being financially interested and having equal representation on the board of directors with the present management, except that this management would elect the chairman, thus preserving a casting vote. The functions of the Government would be limited, as they are at present, to general regulation, which makes its natural province. It is suggested that there should be eleven new relay stations for the benefit of country

districts. In this matter, it would appear, the’ company has not taken a leaf from Mr. Donald’s book. It was the Minister who last year took a leaf from the company. There may be room for criticism, in detail, of the scheme which is now proposed, but it should be infinitely preferable to any which would make for complete Government control.