42,460 TV LICENCES

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30733, 24 April 1965, Page 3

42,460 TV LICENCES

Christchurch Growth

There were 42,460 television licences current in the Christ-: church licensing district on March 31, 1965. the Post i Office’s regional engineer (Mr! H. W. Wilkinson) said yesterday.

This was 15.798 more than the 1964 figure. The greatest: monthly increase was in June, when 2000 new sets were! licensed.

In the same year the number of hired sets increased: from 1407 to 3009. Auckland had 15,590 hired sets. There seemed some confu-| sion about the licensing ofi hired sets, Mr Wilkinson said.! more particularly over the! new hire-and-buy arrange! ment.

In both types of contract the hiring firm was responsible for the licence, and hired sets had. by law, to have affixed a label showing they were hired sets. In the absence of such a label inspectors checking for unlicensed sets had to assume that the licence was the householders’ responsibility. It was therefore in the public’s interest that they saw that sets either on hire or on a hire-and-buy arrangement carried a dealers’ hire label showing that the hiring firm was responsible for the licence.

On payment of the balance of the purchase price or when a hire-purchase agreement was signed the set passed to the householder’s ownership, and he was required to take out a normal television licence, Mr Wilkinson said.