Radio In Gaols—But No Races

Radio Record, 21 August 1936, Page 9

Radio In Gaols—But No Races

New South Wales and Queensland Suggestions for Keeping Prisoners’ Minds Occupied-A Better Companion than their Cell BucketsSeries of Waltz Memories from 2GB. .

RADIO equipment is likely to be installed at Pentridge (Victoria) Gaol for the entertainment and instruction of prisoners during periods which are now spent in idleness in the exercise yard. The new governoy of the gaol is responsible for the suggestion, and it has been heard sympathetically by the chief secretary, Mr. Bailey, who recently went over the penal establishment. Musical items, lectures and descriptions of sports would be broadcast. Mr. Bailey will not sanction descriptions of horse racing. The prisoners will be sorry to hear that. From time to time the warders discover the most ingenious little wireless sets, which have been smuggled in’ or manufactured by prisoners with the main object of ascertaining the results of races. NOTHER experiment that is likely to be put into operation in the near future is the provision of radio entertainment for good-conduct prisoners in Queensland, The radio -programmes will be specially selected and . attendance will be a reward for industry and good conduct on the part of the prisoners. "The old idea that men should be locked in their cells from five o’clock fér 12 hours with no companion but their eel] buckets is out of date,’ said the Minister of Health and Home Affairs, Mr. BE. N. Hanlon. "My idea is that we should encourage men to read ‘and study. as Jong periods of brooding vill not fit them to become decent citizens. The only healthy mind is a_ well-occupied one." .. HE music of the waltz is forever _ linked with the name of. Strauss, yet the strange thing is that while there are many Strausses who have written waltzes, two of ‘the . most .famous composers, Oscar Straus and Richard Strauss, are in no way related to the famous family of waltz kings, who for the most part bear the name of Johan Strauss. "Waltz Memories," from 2GB each Thursday night at 8.45, introduces famous works by various Strausses, and, of course, delightful memories of Lehar, Waldteufel, Lanner, Romberg, and other masters of three-four time, REG. STTONBHAMW S new play, "The Peacemaker," which will be produced from 8LO and. 2FC by John Cairns on August. 21, deals with the

vital problem that is agitating the minds of many scientists and chemists in the laboratores associated with the War Department of Britain. It is that, deadly scourge of humanitypoison gas. This awful form of. warfare is believed to be the method by which foreign nations will eventually attack the heart of our great Empire, London. ‘This radio play treats in a dramatie form the situation arising out of ‘the plots: and counterplots of foreign spies who threaten the peace of the world, and are thwarted by Professor Henry Gray, a scientist, and his prospective son-in-law, Dick Banks. What to Do? To nearly every man there comes a time: of crisis: ‘in his life when he must make a vital decision which only he can make.. Advice is useless, for that decision must be based on something integral in his personality. Sometimes, in such moments,.men make the wrong decision, and live to regret it, ‘but at least the decision has: the vir-

tue of being their own. On Wednesday, August .12, at 10.45 pm., 2GB opened a novel weekly series of dramas entitled "What Would You Do"’ These dramas are actually based on real life incidents. They tel] of famous law cases, of events in political life, of tragedies at sea, and events in the lives of ordinary people, and each story hag a climax in which the listener is asked, "What would you do under. similar . circumstances?" The actual solution: follows .immediately, and the listener is enabled to check up how far his own solution agrees with the true one. Strings and Organ HE programme of string music toe be played by the A.B.C. Ensemble under Perey Code’s direction on August 20 will have additional interest because of the inclusion of the famous new electric organ. In a performance of Handel’s "Largo" and Tschaikowsky’s "Barearolle’ for string and organ, the new organ should be particularly effective