EMPIRE PRESS UNION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18171, 16 February 1921, Page 3

EMPIRE PRESS UNION

The report o£ the committee to be presented at the animal meeting oi the New Zealand branch ot tlie Empire Press Union, to be held next week, describes interest in the doings ot the union, botn at its centre ol activity in England and among the members of the various branches throughout the Empire as having been largely focussed on tne second conference or the union, which took place in Canada in August last. Seven members of the New Zealand branch, who attended at the conierence, came back to New Zealand greatly impressed with all they saw and heard both at the conference and during the course of their extensive tour through me territory of our powerful sister dominion Viscount Burnham presided over the- deliberations of tho conference, which was opened by the Governor-General of the Dominion, tho Duke of Devonshire, who, on behalf of the Government and people of Canada, extended a most hearty and cordial welcome to the members of the union, and in the course of an interesting address paid a tribute to the power of the press. The agenda for tho three days’ sitting of the conference was comprehensive and important, the cable and cable rates naturally figuring largely in the discussions, and the ultimate goal of a penny a word cable rate being urged. The opinion was expressed that wireless must inevitably be supplementary rather than a substitute for the cables. The cable rates resolution eventually passed by the conference called upon the Empire Press Union to take immediate steps to secure facilities for the better quioker, and cheaper conveyance of- news throughout the Empire, and the resolution further urged that tho full utility of cable and wireless commuhioation as a factor in educating public opinion will not be attained until the basic charge of a penny a word, irrespective of distance, be fixed for press messages throughout the whole British Empire. During the tour of the Prince of Wales the branch extended to him its cordial greetings in a letter addreeeed to him by the chairman, and in the reply received from the Prince’s private secretary, complimentary reference was made to the New Zealand press and to the good wishes addressed to him on behalf of its members.

Regret is expressed in the report at the death of the Hon. George Jones, M.L.G., who was a member of the committee, Mr Henry Weston, of New Plymouth, and Mr W. A. Parkinson, of the Hawera Star. The receipts for the year, including balance, £69 16s 4d, brought forward from last year, Were £l7O 16s 4d, and the expenditure, including amount (£B6 16s 6d) remittedito Home Council, was £llO 9s lid, leaving a balance in hand of £6O 6s sd.