RADIO LICENCE FIGURES

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28013, 6 July 1956, Page 7

RADIO LICENCE FIGURES

RECORD AT MARCH 31 NEARLY 1,00J,000 SETS MAY BE IN USE (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, July 5. The number of radio receiving sets in New Zealand may be approaching 1,000,000, an average of two to each household, according to an estimate by the Postmaster-General (Mr T. P. Shand). Mr Shand said to-night that the number of receiving licences at March 31 this year was a record 517,248, an increase of 3533 for the 12 months. However, the number of licences by no means represented the total of radio sets in operation, since possession of a licence enabled a householder to operate a number of receivers. Every-day experience and the figures for the manufacture of radio sets over recent years indicated that most households did in fact operate more than one set, said Mr Shand.

Over the last seven years the number of radio licences had risen from 432,175 to 517,248, an increase of 85,073. In the same period, however, there had been manufactured in New Zealand some 450,000 radio sets, and there had been small imports. Even allowing for replacements it was evident that the number of licences did not nearly represent the number of sets in operation, he said.

The radio industry had shared in the remarkable increase that had marked the production and sale of all household appliances over recent years. The latest figures available showed that 85,405 radio sets were manufactured in New Zealand in 1954-55, an increase of more than 50 per cent, compared with 1949-50.

Mr Shand gave the following details of radio licensing for 1956, the 1949 figures being in parenthesis:—Whangarei, 17.190 (13,221); Auckland, 109,544 (89,755); Hamilton, Rotorua, Thames 62.070 (45,762); Gisborne, 8527 (7863); Napier, 21,795 (17.650); New Plymouth, 20,407 (16.976); Wanganui,- 17,136 (14,470); Palmerston North, 20,318 (20,654); Masterton, 13,121 (6/Z3); Wellington, 58,953 (53,112).; Blenheim, 0117 (4406); Nelson, 10,787 (8397); Westport, 2376 (2267); Grey mouth, 6551 (6332); Christchurch, 66,146 (55,928); Timaru, 12,895 (10,887); Oamaru, 5168 (4613); Dunedin, 38,241 (34,493); Invercargill, 20,906 (18,496).