FILM INDUSTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 10, 12 January 1934, Page 8

FILM INDUSTRY.

GOVERNMENT INQUIRY. PREPARATIONS IN* HAND. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, this day. There are several inquiries into important public matters which the Government has undertaken to have made during this recess, and the first which is likely" to take shape is that relating to the film industry. A select committee of the House of Representatives which considered one aspect of the terms on which iilm-s are hired to exhibitors strongly recommended a general inquiry, and preparations are being made for it by the Hon. R. Masters, Minister of Industries and Commerce.

I Among the points to be submitted for inquiry is that of alleged combinations preventing exhibitors in general from securing an adequate range of films for their theatres, while the minimum admission fee requirement of some distributors is also among the subjects for attention. The long-standing difficulty of " blind booking" is said to be etill a subject of strong complaint among theatre proprietors, and it is said that they arc occasionally required to book up supplies which include films merely named, but not actually made at the time of concluding the obligation to take them. A similar inquiry has been commenced in Xew South Wales, under the chairmanship of Mr. W. F. Marks.