No Bad Films Shown In Auckland?

Radio Record, Volume VII, Issue 6, 18 August 1933, Page 20

No Bad Films Shown In Auckland?

Speaker Claims Dramatic Criticism in New Zealand Lags Behind the Rest of the World — Reception of 1YX is Good-£100,000° for London Dressmakers.

"THE Future of the Press" was discussed from 1YA by Mr. W. Rt. Kingston-Smith, and a well-known "Man in the Street" was rather a criticism of, and an answer to, the present trend, policy, and make-up of our daily Press than a glimpse into the future of newspapers. It was charged that the old crusading spirit of Pulitzer in U.S.A, and T. P. O’Connor in England was now lost and the answer was that modern newspapers had to satisfy the largest possible publie and crusading was looked on by many with suspicion on the ground that someone must have "an axe to grind." The blatant flattery of visitors, the weak criticism of local dra matic productions "like badly written articles in a school magazine," and film "criticism" were roundly condemned "To judge by the papers, has a bad film ever been shown in Auckland?" was the query. The speaker had to admit that in this last respect the New Zealand Press was badly behind the rest of the world. In 1933, he added, a& newspaper must be a commercial proposition, owing to the high cost of production. x " x AUCKLAND'S newest radio station. 1Y¥X, has settled down to stead; business with an hour of attractive re cordings, while 1YA is on the news and reports session from seven to eight each night. 1YX is actually the Broadeasting Board’s test transmitter sending from what may be the future home of the new and more powerful 1YA. The little station comes througa very clearly and offers variety for those who fail to be thrilled by the price of fat stock or experiments in psychology. x * + TNHDPRE will be two band concert« for 1YA listeners this week, the Auckland Watersiders’ Band playing in the studio on Wednesday with Mr. George Lawson, tenor, as vocalist. While the Municipal Band will be heard on relay from the Town Hal} on Saturday, 26th. On the latter occasion Miss Jean Clarkson, ‘cellist, and Miss Freda Evans, soprano, will be the soloists. Other 1YA artists this week will be the Marelle Sextet and Harry Barton, baritone. on Monday. Mr, Duncan Biack’on Friday, while on Sunday, August 27, Miss Gwenda Weir’s solos will have the accompani ment of the studio. orchestra. * ROYAL COURT means the spending of at least £100.000 among the dressmakers.and shopkeepers of London, said Sir James Parr when describing the presentation of debutantes to thelr Majesties. Buckingham Palace has some 40 acres of gardens and was once the home of the War! of Arlington, the man who paid £10 a Ib. for tea, to import the first of it to Britain. The

actual presentation, said Sir James, commences at 9.80 p.m., but at-3 p.m. the Mall was lined with cars. When their Majesties are seated on their golden thrones, surrounded by . the Royal Family, the Prime Minister and peers of the realm, the 800 debutantes file past, bowing to the King and curtseying to "the most regal-looking woman in the world," the Queen, That curtsey, by the way, costs some £2/2/or more to acquire from professional

teachers. Next week Sir James will speak from 1YA on "Is the League of Nations Worth While?" Coming from one who for some years took an intimate part in the proceedings of that body, the talk should be of very wide appeal, * ¢ AMONG 1YA’s brightest offerings of the past week was "Old Wire Whiskers’ " sea story, "Running Amok." On holiday in Mauritius, the speaker was persuaded to ship as mate on a smart American barque with a Creole crew and a negro cook. They cleared for Adelaide, and the mate had a preliminary skirmish with the cook when the latter ordered him out of the galley and Mr. Mate jumped on the "doctor’s" big toe.- It became evident that the cook was "savaging" the Creole crew; then one beautiful sunrise the speaker heard chanting from the Koran and it transpired that the cook, once a Moody and Sankey man, had

been converted to Islam and then had made himself a new religion of fight, in which love had no part. There was another interlude in the galley when the cook pulled a knife, saying he was . a prophet, and the mate grabbed a kettle, saying, "You'll be a boiled prophet if you don’t behave." 5 % bd Me. BLLIOT DAVIS, just back from * the Old Country, put his finger right on the spot last Thursday when he told 1YA listeners that 90 per cent. of the difference in price between New Zealand and Danish butter was due to our bad marketing system, Since he noticed New Zealand butter retailing at 83d when Danish sold for 1/1, the speaker’s conclusions are clearly worth examination by the authorities. He condemned the system of invoicing by brokers, and. said there were far too many Tooley Street operations selling our butter one to the other-"taking in each other’s washing." By the time it reached the consumer New Zealand producers had made _ huge losses through our disorganised marketing. After instancing the Danish method of fixing a weekly price and. if necessary, meeting the markets, to clear weekly stocks, he said our solution seemed to be the licensing of a few reputable firms who would be under penalty to comply with certain definite regulations. The speaker instanced the tre mendous growth of dairying in Australia in the past three years: while the output of New Zealand butter had increased by 7 per cent. in that period to 98.000 tons per annum, Australia had increased from 41.000 to 85,000 tons in the game period. ° HE past week has been a great one for sportsmen-and a good many of the women seem to enjoy it, too, 1YA relayed three professional wrestling matches (two of them on Saturday’s double bill), in its usual entertaining style, with Announcer Gordon Hutter almost hoarse with excitement on 0ccasions. Then on Tuesday and Thursday the same station sent over a deseription of the star events of the Grand National meeting from Christchurch. And on Saturday (when the afore-mentioned double match wrestling was the evening’s long suit) there was Rugby from F¥fen Park, and 1ZR put over the representative League fixture, Auckland vy. Northland. Any sports lover who felt he did not get his full penn’orth from the wireless last week must be ‘an outsize in gluttons. This next Saturday Hden Park presents its first big thrill of the Rugby season, when those old rivals, Hawke’s Bay and Auckland, are to meet.