RADIO LICENCES

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 34, 4 November 1937, Page 15

RADIO LICENCES

Record Figure Reached In the use of radio and telephone facilities New Zealand stands high among fibo progressive countries of the world,” according to a statement, issued by the Director-General of the Post and Telegraph Department, yesterday. The latest figures made available by the Post Office in respect to radio licences issued to September 30, show that 74 out of every 100 houses in the Dominion have a licensed radio receiving set, the total number of receiving licences having reached the record figure of 271,683. This is more than 50,000 above the total at the corresponding date last year. The listeners’ licences are distributed as follows:— ' Wellington district 97,349 Auckland district 86,965 Canterbury district 49,767 Otago district 36,876 The above figures exclude the 726 free licences Issued to blind people and institutions, schools where sets are exclusively used for educational purposes, hospitals and charitable institutions, and licences held by dealers and experimenters. Telephone progress has enabled many records to be made during recent months, and the September gain of 830 new subscribers has only twice been exceeded in the history of a rap-idly-expanding service, namely, in July last, when the month’s gain was 871, and in October, 1936, when it reached 900. Subscribers served by the New Zealand exchanges now number 142,872.