"Part Of Aim Is To Stop Thomsons”

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30365, 14 February 1964, Page 10

"Part Of Aim Is To Stop Thomsons”

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, Feb. 13. “We think New Zealand and Australia have a very special relationship,” said Mr K.. R. Murdoch, managingdirector of the- Adelaide News, Ltd., tonight. He had been asked whether the new move by the Adelaide News group was aimed to stop the Thomson Organisation from coming into Australia and New Zealand. “That is part of it,” he said. He said that if-the Adelaide News offer was accepted, the editorial policy would always be in the best interests of ■New Zealand. He said that the group’s newspapers in Australia followed a policy which they considered best for the interests of their own areas. Asked if he had any further “territorial ambitions” in New Zealand, Mr Murdoch said: “I am thinking purely in terms of the ‘Dominion’ newspaper. I will have some more to say about that later.” Asked if he would seek any radio or television warrants in New Zealand, Mr Murdoch said: “It has never occurred to me. I have enough worries in that respect in Australia.”

To further questions, Mr Murdoch said that in 10 years his concern’s capital had gone up from £A150.000 to £A1,500;000 In that period the net profit had risen from £A35,000 to £A669.000, and total assets had risen from £A950,000 to about £AI2 million. Mr Murdoch will fly to Sydney oh Saturday, but he will return to New Zealand shortly.

News, Ltd., registered as a company in South Australia in 1922, is publisher of “News.” the “Sunday Mail,” Adelaide, and the “Barrier Miner,” Broker. Hill. It is a majority shareholder in the “Daily Mirror” and “Sunday Mirror News Pictorial,” Sydney; “Truth” in Melbourne, Adelaide, and Hobart, and “Sunday Truth,” Brisbane, and a number of national journals, including “New Idea” and “TV Week.” News, Ltd., also owns Cumberland Newspapers Pty.,

Ltd., publisher of 18 Sydney regional newspapers. It holds all the ordinary shares in Western Press, Ltd., Perth, publishers of the “Sunday Times,” and a number of country newspapers, and holds a majority interest in companies publishing newspapers at Horsham, Victoria, Darwin, and Mount Isa. The company is also a majority shareholder in a television station, NWS-9, Adelaide, owns radio station 2BH, Broken Hill, and has substantial interests in station SDN, Adelaide.