“BANNED BY 4YA.”

Evening Star, Issue 22682, 23 June 1937, Page 12

“BANNED BY 4YA.”

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —I was very pleased to read “ Digger’s ” letter in to-night’s ‘ Star.’ Here we have the Band of the Otago Regiment chased off the air. Will our worthy mayor, councillors, and people of Dunedin stand for this? Those of us who have receiving sets pay for what we want and not for what the broadcasting authorities think we should have. A learned professor who visited these shores a few years back remarked that “ there was nothing so tamo as a tame New Zealander,” and he was more than half right.—l am, etc., June 22. T. I. Wright.

TO THX EDITOR. Sir, —The controversy which lias arisen over the alleged banning of the Otago Regimental Baud at 4YA seems an exceedingly silly one, as it has never been made clear whether tho three opinions quoted in your issue of Friday night—those of Dr V. E. Galway. Mr Alfred Walrnsley, and Mr Vernon Griffiths—refer to the of the band as a broadcasting organisation or in the “flesh.” Everyone knows how different a performance may sound over tho air as compared with such performance in a hall or in the open air. To place the matter in its true perspective. may the three above-named gentlemen be asked—firstly, in what circumstances their letters of appreciation were given ; and, secondly, whether they have ever heard the band over the air? As regards the statement that the band’s merits as a broadcasting unit were judged by observers appointed by the Director of Broadcasting, surely it may be taken as quite definite .that competent observers were appointed for this purpose, and it would appear to bo an eminently fair procedure which entirely removes from the case any possible charge of local bias.—l am, etc., Listener. June -23.