"SHUT OFF THE AIR."

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 260, 3 November 1931, Page 8

"SHUT OFF THE AIR."

CLERGYMAN AND DOCTOR.

BROADCASTS INTERRUPTED.

STIR INT AUSTRALIA,

(From-Our Own Correspondent.) ■ 1

SYDNEY, Octobcr 30.

Iwo incidents in broadcasting stations in Sydney and' Melbourne caused a stir during, the, week. In Melbourne- a clergyman .was switched off the air because lie brought politics and controversial suliO.ects into his address from a church pulpit. In Sydney a well-1 mown doctor, public official and -ex-Scout officer wps switched off because lie used - language that - was not. deemed fit.

. Station 3LO Melbourne was broadcasting Rey.,T. C. Rentoul's address from the Wesley Church, Melbourne. Mr. Rentoul said-that sensational reports in English newspapers had made the British public think of Australians as "a fauitv, } az y> fairly honest, fairly respectable «' ° muddlers." Ihe thing that has hurt most in England is the appointment of an Australian Governor-General, and the niaunei in which it was done. The people at Home regard this as an insult to the Iving. We must try to reinedv it soon as wo get a chamre of Government. <

-At this point ,the official supcrinteiidending the broadcast stopoed the transmission, after consultation' with Rev. ,1. H. Cain. After the service .Mr. Hcntoul expressed surprise that oLO officials had applied the gag to him. Dr. Purdy, city health officer of I Sydney, and an ex-commissioner f fJi " ■2} '■ ' Scouts in Tasmania, was tha offender in Sydney He spoke from Station 2BL on Tuesday riight in connection with Scout celebrations in 1 made use of two words in describing Australian soldiers. His spcich was cut short and he was • asked to leave tin studio. Later a statement was made by the owners of the station, declaring th<it Dr. Purdy would not be permitted to broadcast again unless he rr ave an undertaking that there would be i'-> repetition.of his language.