MORE HARMONY DESIRED

Evening Star, Issue 21623, 19 January 1934, Page 3

MORE HARMONY DESIRED

FILM EXCHANGES AND EXHIBITORS GOVERNMENT INITIATES COMPREHENSIVE INQUIRY [Pun United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, January 18. The Minister of Industries and Commerce (Hon. R. Masters) announced to-day that Cabinet had decided to hold an inquiry into various phases of the motion picture industry. It has been known for some time that difficulties have arisen between the distributing film exchanges or renters and the exhibitors operating the picture theatres in New Zealand. One of these difficulties has arisen through the fixation of minimum admission prices bv the film exchanges. A Bill dealing, with this aspect of the matter was introduced into the House of Representatives in the closing stages of last session. The Bill was referred to the Industries and Commerce Committee which, after giving the matter careful consideration, reported to the House that in its opinion an exhaustive inquiry into the film industry in all its bearings should be undertaken at the earliest possible date, but that the time at its disposal was not sufficient to undertake such an inquiry, during the present session. The committee recommended that such inquiry should be made by the Government. This recommendation duly came before the Cabinet which arrived at the conclusion that in the public interest and for the establishment of better and more harmonious conditions for each interest concerned in the industry a comprehensive inquiry was necessary. It proposed to make the scope of the inquiry comprehensive, and all phases of the position will receive a searching examination. There appears on the part of both the film exchanges and the exhibitors to be a need for such an inquiry, and deputations representing both sections of the industry have urged the Government to hold an inquiry.

40.000 MILES TRAMP

IN BANDITS’ HANDS CAPTURED FOUR TIMES. Attacked aud robbed by bandits four times, chased by tigers, a tramp hundreds of miles through wild regions of India with a gong as his only weapon with which to frighten away man-eat-ing beasts . . . These are the remarkable adventures of a Chinese student who walked a few weeks ago into the offices of the ‘ Sunday Chronicle ’ with an account of his 40,000-mile lone tour of the world. By walking and cycling he had so far travelled 20,000 miles. He had 20,000 to g°- . , The man is Mr Pan Teh Ming, aged twenty-four, and he started out three years ago “to circle the world.” The “ high spots ” in his journey include a tramp of 450 miles across the Syrian desert, an encounter with tigers near the Indian North West frontier, and a meeting at Geneva with Mr Arthur Henderson. “ While I was walking through the northern districts of India,” Mr Ming said, “ I carried a gong with me to frighten the tigers. 1 travelled only in the day time, and this was sufficient to scare them off.” . On four occasions Mr Ming fell into the hands of bandits in China, India, Persia, and Palestine. They stripped him of everything they thought was of value. He intended to spend four or five weeks in Britain and Scotland, and then for the first time he was to go on hoard ship—for America. His plans include a 3,000-mile hike across North America from west to east.