BROADCASTING.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20249, 29 May 1931, Page 11

BROADCASTING.

CONTROL IN DOMINION. A CHANGE CONTEMPLATED. [THE PBESS Special Serviea.] . . WELLINGTON, May-28. -- Tto of the Badio Broadcasting Company o£ the major stations ont .-New Zealand expires on December 31st, and as adequate notice will fiava to b<e given to the company, should. the ■ : Government decide to alter .the- system of eontrol, it will bo necessary for Cabinet to decide upon its policy «oacerning radio brOadcastiftg in tlio So* minion at an early date. It is ttbdirstood the Government contemplate* changing tlie present system, and legislation providing for this will ■probably be prepared for: presentation to Parliament next session. Speaking in the Home last year, the Postmaster-General outlined a scheme - providing for relay stations, "which would form a network tlittmghput the whole country, so that owners of small . eetß would be able to listen-in to practically every part of the Dominion. It is understood it is proposed to adopt ' this scheme, at least as far as its main essentials are concerned, although so , official information is available as to future policy, ownership, or control. , " Systems, of CatrtroL - - *. Broadly speaking,. there axe three principal systems of wireless' control in vogue in other 1 countries, la tha United States atationa&re lic&oaed, but no license fee is charged . listeners. , - Broadcasting companies there obtain their revenue by various methods, direct and indirect. In Australia there is ; a system of divided control imder which the State has charge of- the technical side, while private companies attend to thd programmes. In Great Britain ) broadcasting is in the hands ■of the British Broadcasting Corpora#"tfu, an independent body free from poiitteal eon- - troL This Corporation 'the revenue from licenses, which aTe' issued , at a charge of 10s per year. Whiehof these schemes is at present favoured by thd Postmaster-General is not knolfx>» ■ although when speaking on the question in the House Mr Donald then seemed in- • clined to the view that the -l?tate should control .the service either tially or wholly. The. Badio Broadcasting Company has been given to understand that its license will not be renewed, although official notice has not | been given to it. | Minor Stations.. I An important feature of the proposal t» establish minor stations throughout .the ; Dominion will be that the whole of New ! Zealand will be brought within -the range of a crystal-set. The proposal js to rim -land-lines to small stations is towns where there is at present -, no broadcasting apparatus. Mr Dottaldsaid in thd House that these minor stations ~ ■would be set up at Whangarti, Hamilton, Now Plymouth, Napier, or .Hastings, Wanganui, Tiai&ru, andlnvtecar-t gill. They will receive programmes by landrlines and broadcast these in the ordinary way. At present SYA Wellington has an installed capacity of 5000 watts in order to prove of full utility in time of national crisis. It is possible ' that under the new scheme the stations at the other centres will have their capacity increased from 500 t6 2000 watts.