CHEAPER RADIO SETS

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 223, 17 June 1936, Page 10

CHEAPER RADIO SETS

Trade Interested In Government’s Plan

DISTRIBUTION QUESTION

Is it the intention of the Government, to market standard radio sets through the Post and Telegraph Department in the way that telephones are supplied to subscribers? This question is interesting the radio trade just now as a result of pronouncements by the Postmaster-General, Hon. F. Jones, during the debates on the Broadcasting Bill in the House of Representatives and in yesterday’s “Dominion.” The Government’s desire that each of the 200,000 New Zealand homes not already possessing a radio set should have one naturally interests the industry, which equally naturally feels, according to opinions given “The Dominion” yesterday, that the trade should be the suppliers, and not the State. An official of the New Zealand Radio Dealers’ Federation stated that be could hardly conceive that the Government would undertake to enter into competition with established radio traders and manufacturers. Until the Postmaster-General had bad an opportunity to submit further details of his scheme the trade would keep a perfectly open mind on the subject. The manager of one of the largest radio manufacturing concerns in Wellington stated that it was possible to build a standard set for £6, which, he understood, was the figure the Government had in mind, but it would be of low power and capable of receiving only local stations. A four-valve set could be made for that figure, but he was pf opinion that there would not be a large market for such a receiver. People these days wanted shortwave sets, or at least one that would “get” Australia as well as the New Zealand stations. No doubt small sets sufficient to receive local tations would satisfy the objective of the Government.

A radio set produced for £6 or thereabouts could only be marketed by some direct method such as the Post and Telegraph Department, the manager continued. This would mean the elimination of the legitimate trader, who could not be expected to handle such a set without a reasonable reward for distributing it. The announcement that the Government had in mind a plan to cooperate with radio manufacturers to bring about a reduction in the price of receiving sets had had the effect of bringing about quieter trading at the present time, it was stated. There was a definite slackening in buying since the Postmaster-General gave the first intimation that it was hoped to effect a reduction in prices.