“Gallery” made dispute more comprehensible

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32637, 19 June 1971, Page 4

“Gallery” made dispute more comprehensible

There are people who criticise watchers of the N.ZJB.C.’s “Gallery” programme by saying they only look at it because they consider it “the done thing.” But what* ever a viewer’s motives for watching, the fact is that because of its topi* cality, its prompt digging into current issues, the programme does make a major contribution in informing the public.

Some mghts are better than others, and some interviews are not handled as well as they might have been, but Thursday night’s Exel interview with Mr T. E. Skinner, president of the Federation of Labour, was just what was needed to make the current industrial trouble more comprehensible.' I liked Mr Exel’s candid question to the union chief as to whether it wasn’t all rather a Micky Mouse situation. And Mr Skinner wholeheartedly agreed. As far as I was concerned, this confirmed my suspicions that the whole affair, gloomily described by prophets of doom as a national disaster, has been rather a storm in a teacup. Maybe there is something we can learn from the comment made by Mr Skinner that the situation would never have arisen had Mr Marshall, the Minister of Labour, been in the country. This may or may not be true, but personal relationships can be as impor-

0 tant as issues when it comes . to industrial negotiations. Interesting too were Mr • Skinner’s allegations against it Mr Muldoon who has been j making stringent criticism > up and down the country ’ against certain unions. A discussion between 5 Messrs Skinner and Muldoon, J With Mr Exel as moderator, | would make for an interest- . ing Gallery programme some • time, particularly if the - Finance Minister elaborated 1 on his criticism. The other half of the programme, dealing with the collapse of the Premier . Coaching College in Auck- . land was also a worth-while , discussion by Joe Cote with the emphasis on what will i happen to the overseas students who are left without ; the means of receiving . tuition. , A point in the programme’s I, favour, I thought, was the ! Way in which the articulate i student was allowed to tell > his own story the interview in a “posh” hotel, the subtle suggestions that stu- . dents should hurry and sign i up, and finally, “the money . has gone and so has the t future.” It was also heartening to have the programme nicely rounded off by the interview with the Minister of Education, Mr Taiboys, who gave an assurance that he will do all he can to help these students. > And it was a valid point he made, when asked about ■. other overseas students who . have paid their money but : who have not left their own . countries. We cannot protect everyone in other • countries, and neither can we so order the lives of the New Zealanders that no-one will damage the image of this i country abroad. However, unfortunate i though the collapse of the ’ college may be, it seems to i have arisen through registra--1 tion of courses available for > overseas students, a measure designed to protect the interests of people who come 1 to New Zealand to learn. * * * i My word, that 727 jet took ; a mighty long time to make > its emergency landing in the final crisis from San Fran-

cisco Airport. And incidentally the landing itself was a rather tame affair—can you imagine the passengers just clapping politely after what they had been through? . And as one does sometimes, I had to go out 10 minutes after the start of the programme, to pick up one of my family in the car. I must have been away for fully 15 minutes, but I picked the programme up again without any trouble. This is a fair test, I think, of the value of a TV thriller; if you can plug in again without the sense of having missed anything, the chances are that what was missed was not worth seeing anyway. Thursday night’s Crisis on Runway 28 was the last in the airport series. Maybe this programme will take on a new lease of life next week. * a *

Surely there are better comedy programmes available for the N.Z.B.C. to buy than the pathetic series, “On the Buses.” As the crew clowned, guffawed and hammed their way back to and from the depot, complete with radio control, I couldn’t help wondering why it is we have no home-grown comedy programmes. Is it because New Zealanders have not yet learned to laugh at themselves, or more likely, is it because the corporation finds it easier to buy such pap as is fed to masses of English people glued to their boxes? A really good New Zea-land-made comedy would do a great deal for the national morale, and maybe we wouldn’t take Ourselves so seriously.