MANY SPECIAL PROGRAMMES

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21974, 24 December 1936, Page 3

MANY SPECIAL PROGRAMMES

SHORT-WAVE STATIONS' BROADCASTS CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL On Christmas Day and the days following, New Zealand short-wave radio listeners will hear special Christmas programmes from stations all over the world. The programme directors of the radio stations of many countries have for many years tried to make their Christmas programmes more attractive than at other times of the year. .

Daventry has announced that the King will not speak to the Empire this year, and few important Christmas broadcasts £.re scheduled from England. On Christmas Day, at 8 p.m. New Zealand time, there will be a carol service from King's College, Cambridge, and at 9.15 a programme of English Christmas entertainments of the past, under the title "When the Snow Lay Round About " At 8 p.m. on Boxing Day there is to be a Christmas variety programme, and possibly the! most interesting of the British Broadcasting Corporation's programmes will be at 9 p.m. of the same day. It is "Harry Hopeful's Party," in which old friends from the Yorkshire dales, the Lakes, Cleveland, the Border, the Derbyshire dales, and the Durham dales, will reunite round Wassail Bowl and Parson's Nose at Brough. Most of the European stations will be broadcasting at times inconvenient for New Zealand listeners. From Australia The most important programme from the Australian Broadcasting Commission's national network will be at 10 o'clock to-morrow night (Christmas Day), when "The Messiah" (Handel) will be presented. This is an annual performance by the Melbourne Philharmonic Society, which will be conducted by Professor Bernard Heinze, and assisted by the A.B.C. (Melbourne) Symphony Orchestra. The soloists will be Stella Power, soprano; Joan Jones, contralto; Stanley Clarkson, bass, and Fred. Williamson, tenor. Tonight the national network will broadcast "The Centurion," a Christmas drama in one act, at 10 o'clock, and at 10.20 adoration, hymns, and carols, under the title of "The Star of Bethlehem." At 11.15 there will be a special programme of Christmas music. An important presentation on Boxing Day (at 10 p.m.) will be "William Cornelius Whittington Esquire," described as "a Christmas pantomime in the modern manner." A Christmas burlesque, "Snapdragon Sauce." is scheduled for presentation at 11.10 p.m. on December 30. A Goodwill Message from Germany Many stations have sent out Christmas messages by letter to listeners. The following has been circulated by a group of German stations:— "Christmas, the festival of love and peace, is again at hand. Throughout the wide world the bells will soon be ringing In of the birth of Jesus, who nearly 2000 years ago brought a guiding light for mankind in its wanderings in the darkness. The star of Bethlehem shone then above a world divided by strife and conflict, a world in which brother fought against brother and nation against nation, in the vain and pitiless struggle for the salvation of a fabric that was rotten to the core.

" 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men'; this joyous message, which ushered in a new age in the history of the world, exhorts us again to-day. "Unless the signs be deceptive, the threat of destruction hangs heavy over our own age as well. The decaying framework creaks, nation stands armed against nation, in the spirit of distrust. Like the poor shepherds of Bethlehem, we too are looking for a star that may guide us out of the darkness and confusion towards light and peace. For us, too, the Christmas message will point out the way. "The blessings of peace will be ours, anil the peoples of the world will be saved from chaos and destruction, onlyj if we are possessed of 'good will toward men,' if we are inspired by the goodwill to understand one another, and to respect in one another the expression of inborn national character. Only through this understanding, which fosters first respect and then love, can the way to the light of full development be found, and the threat of chaos avoided. "May tnis Christmas programme help to deepen understanding among the people, and in this way serve the ideal cf a true peace founded upon mutual respect: may it contribute to the realisation of the words of the Christmas message: 'On earth peace, goodwill towards men.'"