A BLOWN FUSE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23341, 5 November 1937, Page 8

A BLOWN FUSE

BROADCAST FROM HOUSE PRIME MINISTER'S SPEECH SUGGESTION OF " JAMMING " A TRANSMITTER AT FAULT (From Our Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, Nov. 4. A suggestion that the speech made by the Prime Minister (Mr Savage) on the Broadcasting Amendment Bill to-night was to a certain extent " jammed " was made by Mr A. S. Richards (Govt., Roskill) when speaking later in the debate. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr A. Hamilton) immediately denied that the Opposition knew anything of the cause of the occurrence. " I am informed," said Mr Richards, who was the next Government speaker after the Prime Minister, "that while the Prime Minister was speaking to-night there was oscillation in the form of a humming sound interfering with the broadcast, and it is significant that it ceased as soon as the Prime Minister resumed his seat. I will leave members of the Opposition to draw their own conclusions about the cause of the disturbance. The member for Hurunui (Mr Forbes), who followed Mr Savage, had the benefit of being broadcast from the two national stations without any interference. Mr Forbes: Do you think I did it? A Prompt Denial Mr Hamilton rose to a point of order. "The member for Roskill has made a very serious charge, and I want to know what the Prime Minister is going to do about it," he said. "The member for Roskill said that someone had been interfering with the wireless from this House, and I suppose he wants to blame the Opposition. We know nothing about it, and I think it is up to the Prime Minister to have an inquiry made right away." The Speaker (Mr W. E. Barnard) said that if what had been stated by Mr Richards was true it was a serious matter, but at the moment he could only point out that Mr Richards had made no charge against the Opposition or against eny member of the House. He was afraid that the matter could not be dealt with at that stage. 1 Explanation of Cause

Rising to a point of order at a later stage in the debate, the Post-master-general (Mr F. Jones) said that at 8.17 p.m. a fault developed in the transmitter at Titahi Bay and a loud hum developed, but it was announced over 2YA that the station would stay on the air until the Prime Minister's speech was finished. A few minutes later a fuse blew out, and the station ceased to function, so the parliamentary broadcast was immediately transferred to 2YC, the change-over taking place while Mr Forbes was speaking.