NO POLITICAL ADDRESSES

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20977, 4 October 1933, Page 8

NO POLITICAL ADDRESSES

BROADCASTING IN DOMINION ENGLISH PRECEDENT NOT FOLLOWED When the agreement reached among the three political parties in England on the use of wireless under which political speeches will be featured on a set basis was referred to the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, yesterday by a representative of "The Press," he stated, in reply to a question, that there was no movement in New Zealand to secure any similar agreement, nor was such desired, he thought, by the majority of listeners. The report of the agreement to make wireless open to politics in Great Britain is made in the "Manchester Guardian Weekly" of August 17, which states that the three political parties, after reaching an agreement, will make the broadcast of speeches a feature of the programme of the winter. Nine speakers had been chosen when the report was published. They were: Mr Ramsay Mac Donald, the National Labour Prime Minister; Mr Stanley Baldwin, Conservative and Lord President of the Council; Mr Walter Runciman, Liberal National, President of the Board of Trade; Mr Oliver Stanley, Conservative, Minister for Transport, Sir Herbert Samuel, leader of the Liberal Parliamentary party; Mr George Lansbury, Opposition leader; Mr A. Greenwood, M.P., Minister for Health in the last Labour Government; and Sir Stafford Cripps, Solicitor-General in the last Labour Government.

Mr Baldwin will open the series on October 12 and the subsequent speakers, • each of whom has been allotted a quarter of an hour, will broadcast on a fixed night in the week. Political broadcasting has been a matter of acute controversy among the parties for several years, the chief p6int of contention being the proportionate allotment of facilities. In September last year the Prime Minister set up a committee composed of both Houses of Parliament, and it is that body • which has brought about the agreement. The committee will be in control of broadcasts, selecting speakers and choosing their topics. Preference of Listeners. Speaking of the position in New Zealand, Mr Forbes said that the broadcasting of political speeche 1 - had been regarded in a simi-l lar light to advertisement, which was not desired. The principal rea-1 son for the lack of any movement] to broadcast them was that there j was no demand from the majority of listeners for them. Either items of entertainment were preferred or listeners considered that the programme of lectures and addresses as at present arranged was sufficient. There was no intention on the part of the Government to take any action in investigating the possibility of broadcasting political addresses in the future, added. Mr Jpgsb'ea - - --..._