CITY COUNCIL FOOLED

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21436, 30 March 1935, Page 17

CITY COUNCIL FOOLED

BOGUS BROADCAST OF MEETING SI 'CCISSSKI I. PRACTICAL JOKE AT NELSON Sl'tClAl, TO THE HESS. NELSON. March 29. It is many years since a major practical joke, such as one affecting a local body, was successfully carried out in Nelson, but a well-known business man who has a partiality for practical joking scored a complete success at the expense of the Nelson City Council last evening, with a bogus broadcast of the council meeting. At 7.45 p.m., while the minutes were being read, this man entered the Council Chamber, carrying a wireless apparatus and microphone which lie proceeded to install near the public barrier of the auditorium. Wires were placed through the window, and the operator, after appropriate announcements, put on his ear-phones and waited developments. The man who was responsible had on frequent occasions acted as announcer for the local radio station, and as a commentator on public functions. That fact evidently dispelled any suspicion that the councillors might have had. At the conclusion of the reading of the minutes, Cr. H. E. A. Washbourne asked, "Are we on the air to-night, Mr Mayor?" The Mayor (Mr W. J. Mofl'att): Apparently we are.

Cr. W. Black: And I suppose your Worship has given permission for the broadcast?

The Mayor: No, but I see no objection so far as I am concerned.

Cr. Washbourne, after a remark that it would cramp someone's style, said: Could ,you not stage a row with the press to give them something to go on with, sir?

Councillors took quite an interest in the installation of the apparatus, and no objection was raised to the broadcast of the proceedings. The Mayor, in all good faith, sent a note to the operator who was the only one in the auditorium, stating that none of the proceedings taken in committee could be broadcast.

One councillor left the chamber for about a quarter of an hour, and it was later learned that he had made a hurried visit to his home to tune in to test the success or otherwise of the broadcast. He could find nothing on the airland on returning had an investigation made of the wire connexions. only to find that they ended on the footpath outside. He saw through the joke, but said nothing to the other councillors.

Later in the meeting several councillors wished to go into committee and receive a report by the Citv Engineer on certain matters. Cr. Washbourne questioned whether the report should go over the air. "What about that machine over there, is it going or isn't it?" he asked, adding. "If that machine was not there the engineer could give a more detailed explanation of the matter." The council then went into committee. the Mayor, in a voice louder than usual. '"Council is now in committee, the wireless is off and the press is not taking it." And so proceedings went on until 9.30. when the operator.made an announcement into the microphone that the broadcast would end, and' he departed with his gear. It was not until after the meeting. which was marked by some special efforts in speech-making, that most of the councillors became aware of the hoax, while some went home still under the impression that it was genuine. It, is understood that the Mavor was acquainted with the position just before the "broadcast" ended, bv an official who had had a conversation during the proceedings with the perpetrator of the hoax.