HONORARY INSPECTORS

Evening Post, Volume 137, Issue CXI, 10 June 1926, Page 14

HONORARY INSPECTORS

A REMARKABLE ANNOUNCEMENT.

The appointment of four honorary radio inspectors for the Wellington district, to assist the official inspector in carrying out his duties, is one of the most interesting of recent events in the local wireless world. The inspectors are Messrs. Campbell, L.'M. Levy, T. H. Megann, and W. Koche, all of whom are members of tho Wellington Amateur Badio Society. Kegarding these appointments a statement published yesterday has caused some alarm and annoyance. It wa3 announced that "tho new appointees are honorary officers of the P. and T. Department, and as such are vested with full authority under the radio regulations. They have right of entry into any radio licensee's premises on production of the written authority with which each has been supplied. Any licensee unduly delaying or obstructing their admission renders himself liable under the radio regulations. The P. and T. Department insists that the provisions of the regulations with regard to prohibited circuits must be observed strictly to, the letter. Socalled 'club radio inspectors' have absolutely no authority from the P. and T. Department, and cannot be recognised. Only the Department's radio inspector, assistant radio inspector, and the Department's four honorary assistant radio inspectors have any right to demand admission to any radio licensee's premises. These officials will present their written authority in every instance. "- It can be said definitely that the foregoing statement is not official. On its face it is absurd. It is questionable whether all the powers of an official radio inspector can be exorcised by an honorary inspector; but it is certain that a radio inspector, official or otherwise, has no "right of entry" to another man's dwelling; and one who "demands admission" is more likely to be ordered off than welcomed. The law very rigorously protects the inviolability of a private house; cvon a landlord can only enter by the permission of a tenant, and a policeman's power of entry is very restricted. Tho official radio inspectors are not policemen, and do not behave as if fhey were; and it is hardly credible that honorary inspectors can so misread their instructions as to approach their duty in the spirit implied by tho quoted paragraph. If the services of these gentlemen aro to be of any valuo to the P. and T. Department and the radio public, it will .be because they are carried out with tact and with the desire to make every listener co-operate in the improvement of wireless conditions of his own free will. i