"RADIO PROGRESS RETARDED"

Press, Issue 22599, 3 January 1939, Page 6

"RADIO PROGRESS RETARDED"

♦ ADDRESS BY MR E. J, HOWARD, M.P. COMMERCIALISM . BLAMED “I feel that the cold hand of commercialism has gripped radio so firmly that it has retarded the progress of that science in recent years,” said Mr E, J. Howard, M.P., at Jhe annual convention dinner of the New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters, which was held at Frascati on Saturday. Mr Howard paid tribute to the amateur operators throughout the world. Largely through their experimenting, he said, radio communication in the short-wave field had advanced rapidly over the decade, but now further progress seemed to be held up unnecessarily. This was particularly noticeable in the < development of television.

“A few years ago the PostmasterGeneral said that in one year we would have television in this country, but it is not here yet,” said Mr Howard. "In Great Britain television has reached such a stage of perfection that a person can go into a hotel bar for a glass of beer and see almost anything in the way of entertainment.”

Mr Howard said that during his visit to Britain he saw plays and all kinds of sports activities televised so well that this social amenity seemed to be well .beyond the experimental stage. It was surprising in these, circumstances that television had not become more universal, and the only thing he could attribute this to was the influence of commercial interests.