Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1950. TELEVISION

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 71, Issue 37, 23 November 1950, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1950. TELEVISION

Science and invention never stand still, though major emergencies such as war are apt to change their course, even if stimulating them to increased activity. Television, a marvel even more astonishing than the broadcasting of sound, is one of the latest to come out of the experimental stage and emerge as a practicable luxury, a preliminary, no doubt, to being regarded ere long as “standard equipment” in the ordinary home. The English Postmaster-General, Mr Ness Edwards, recently expressed the opinion that in 15 to 20 years' time television would out-mode sound broadcasting. A plan for relaying Continental television programmes to British viewers is already being discussed by the Post Office, and the radio-relay industry. Paris, it was planned, will be relayed by wire into British homes, including those in deep valleys or behind mountain ranges. Television is defined as “the electrical transmission of transient scenes to be viewed at a distant place practically simuh taneously with their original occurrence.” It transmits sound as well as pictures, can be sent by radio-transmission or over the wires, and enables people in their own homes to enjoy outdoor sports, stage productions, picture films, and a host of such things as travel talks, round table discussions and religious services, with a thigh degree of verisimilitude. Television has of recent years made great strides, notably m England and in the U.S.A. In the latter country there are 8 million sets in operation and in the former some 250,000. While these figures still compare most humbly with those of broadcasting, _oi which there are 60 million receiving sets in America and 12 million in Great Britain, the numbers are significant, and some foresee in them the ultimate end of broadcasting. Television is expensive, and clearly is adapted on a paying basis rather to countries with close aggregations of population than to those more sparsely inhabited, but that it will come some day in New Zealand is evident from the remarks of the Minister in charge of Broadcasting, the Hon. F. W. Doidge, made recently on his return to, this copntry after discussions in London with experts of the new service. Coverage at present is only within a radius of 15 miles, and masts dotting the countryside will apparently one day be a feature of the New Zealand scene, but "a plan for developing television can he placed before the country in due course.” The re suits? Clearly a great increase in the amenities of life, patently a new world of home entertainment —• possibly the increase of difficulties for the education authorities, for in America observers have noted the addiction of children .to the screen, and they wonder if it heralds the emergence of a generation of nonreaders. Be that as it may, it is to be hoped that the children will be taken into account, and the new marvel be dedicated not unduly to the less cultural scenes beloved of so many adults.