CONTROL OF WIRELESS

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 18 November 1927, Page 9

CONTROL OF WIRELESS

RIGHTS OF LISTENERS. AGREEMENT WITH FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. Received 10.40 a.m. to-day. CANBERRA. Nov. 18. In the Fpderail House of Repre-seiita-tives, the Prime Minister, the lit. Hon. S- M. Bruce, introduced a Bill to amend the agreement between the Commonwealth Government and the Amalgamated "Wireless of Australasia Limited. It- provides for fuse patent rights to licensed broadcasting stations, radio dealers and listeners-in from the Amalgamated Wireless, with a payment to the Amalgamated Wireless by the Commonwealth Government of threepence per month on behalf of eaoh licensed listener, and a revision by the Amalgamated Wireless of .stations which it at present owns. The new agreement is to remain operative for five yisanis, and the Commonwealth and the company must agree on a form of license to be signed by the users of the patents. The company agree-s to grant -a license free of royalty to every newspaper and every broadcasting station in the Commonwealth for the purpose of receiving official news bulletins from Britain. It also agrees to prosecute, as expeditiously as possible, actions which have already been instituted for infringement of patent rights. It is agreed that the actions are for rights important to broadcast-in" and. unless these actions are finished within 12 months in favour of the company, the agreement provides that the- company will commence corresponding actions in New Zealand. The provision dealing with the rententon of .stations by the Amalgamated Wireless included claims that all equipment shall he modernised and the stations reorganised. Payment to tiio Postmaster-General’s Department in respect to messages handled by the Post. Office -are eliminated, while the Commonwealth Government promises to provhi? the company with the necessary land for connection and internal communications, at the usual rates. 4 The company is not allowed to transmit or receive inland messages unless required bv the Commonwealth in cases of interruption to line circuits. The company will be entitled to establish and operate commercial wire-loss services between Australia and shipping at sea,, with aircraft -and _ between territories' and other countries.