CRITICISM OF BILL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22059, 15 March 1935, Page 11

CRITICISM OF BILL

LABOUR LEADER'S VIEWS CONTROL BY BOARD OPPOSED FEARS FOR B STATIONS [BY TELEGRAPH —SPECIAL REPORTER] WELLINGTON, Thursday < There was a much more vigorous tone to the speeches in Committee on the Broadcasting Bill in the House of Representatives to-day than was evident, when the measure was discussed last week at the second reading stage. Taking advantage of the opportunity given when the short title was under review, many members contributed to tho discussion and the position of B stations under the proposed legislation was the question of main concern. "The day of boards lias gone and the time for Parliament to control is here," declared the Leader of tho Opposition, Mr. M. J. Savage. "Why this humbug about setting up a board, providing for control of the service by people who do not know anything about it? The amendments circulated by the Minister are mere words and mean nothing. If members are going to swallow this, they deserve all they get. "Sheltering Behind Board." "The Minister wants to hand tho broadcasting service over to a board and shelter behind the board, just as the Minister of "Railways shelters behind the Railways Board. If 1 had my way I would wipe out the board and allow the Post and Telegraph Department to do the job. People of a certain political colour who suit the Government will bo appointed to the board. The Minister will probably get up and reply that he will have the last say, but in 99 cases out of 100 his say will be that of the board." Mr. C. L. Carr (Labour—Timaru): He will be an echo. Mr. Savage: Yes. He will bo merely an echo of the board and there won't be Communists on the board. A Labour Member: Nor will there be any Labour members. Mr. Savage: No. They will be trueblue Tories. When Labour rules it will not rule by boards. It will accept responsibility for laying down a policy and then see that it is administered. If it cannot do the job it will make room for someone who can. Day of Reckoning Predicted Referring to B stations, Mr. Savage said the time had come for the House to insist that competitors of the Government should not be legislated out of existence. If the Government wanted a monopoly let it be obtained by fair means —by the standard of the service that was provided. Broadcasting was one of the greatest services of the age, but under the proposed legislation it would be hamstrung at every turn by a Tory administration. There was a dav of reckoning coining. Mr. A. J. Stallworthy (Independent —(Eden): Let it come, let it come. (Laughter.) Mr. A. E. Ansell (Government — Chalmers) said he would agree to a percentage of tho revenue from listeners' fees being handed over to efficient and approved B stations. Mr. A. Harris (Government —Waitemata) said he believed the underlying reason of the legislation was to eliminate B stations from broadcasting in New Zealand. The bill definitely provided machinery for that and it was an exceedingly dangerous thing to place in the hands of a board. The public who paid licence fees were gravoly concerned. He could not see that the amendments made very much alteration. It was true listeners' organisations were to bo allowed to nominato certain persons for appointment to the board, but a great many listeners did not belong to any organisation. In these circumstances he would prefer to see the listeners' representatives elected.

PROPOSED NEW STATION REQUEST FOR INFORMATION SELECTION OF WAVE-LENGTH [by TELEGRAPH —special reporter] WELLINGTON, Thursday Information about the proposed new broadcasting station for Wellington was sought by Mr. C. L. Carr (Labour Timaru) in the House of Representatives to-day. Mr. Carr asked the Post-master-General, the Hon. A. Hamilton, whether he was prepared to announce the ware-length of the station, whether high power, medium or long wave, particularly as a medium wave with a service range of from 200 to 550 miles would not fulfil the desired purpose, while a long wave (1000 to 2000 miles) would not be picked up by existing imported American sets, Mr. Carr said that in 1927 various countries had agreed not to use long waves up to 1937. It was practically certain that Australia would adopt long waves in 1937 and that owing to the congestion America would do likewise Speaking on the Broadcasting Bill to-night, Mr. Hamilton said that all arrangements in connection with the wave-length of the proposed Wellington station would be properly looked flftcr Mr. Carr: Will it suit existing sets? Mr. Hamilton: That will have to be taken into consideration.