PROBLEMS IN AUSTRALIA

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 124, 26 May 1923, Page 7

PROBLEMS IN AUSTRALIA

PRINCIPLES LAID DOWN BY CONFERENCE OWNERSHIP OF NEWS.. ! (UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION.—COPIRIGBT.) (Received 26th May, noon.) MELBOURNE, This Day. The Wireless Conference passed a resolution for the appointment of a board to administer regulations. It will com-1 prise representatives of the Government, broadcasting stations, manufacturers, traders, and the Press. It was also agreed that the conference ! recognises the necessity for protecting the principle of property in news. A memorandum prepared by members of the Press was accepted. It recommended that a condition of every license issued should be that every licensee must recognise the exclusive ownership of news or intelligence collected by any news service, by a full acknowledgment, and by full consent in writing beforehand, and upon such payment as may be agreed to between the licensee and the newspaper or the agency concerned.

legulations were agreed on determining the wave-lengths to be allotted for broadcasting purposes, to be selected witli respect to the suitability of the stations of various Powers; and for the standardisation of receiving apparatus. Retailers must keep a record of all equipment sold, and a person dealing in or using wireless equipment without a license will be subject to an adequate penally.

The conference affirmed the principle of preference to Australian, British, and foreign manufacturers in that order.

The Postmaster-General stated that .he will consider the decisions of the conference at once, and frame regulations for broadcasting at the earliest opportunity. ,

At the Wireless Conference, Mr. E. T. Jisk stated that the broadcasting scheme, if carried out in Australia in the same way as in England, would necessitate the establishment of two hundred stations and a cost of £4,000,000 annually.