RADIO CONTROL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25215, 3 May 1943, Page 2

RADIO CONTROL

LABOUR PARTY DISCUSSION THE GOVERNMENT SUPPORTED The recent suspension and reinstatement of the director of the Commercial Broadcasting Service, Mr C. G. Scrimgeour, was discussed at some length (says the Wellington correspondent of the Auckland Star) at the Easter Conference of the New Zealand Labour Party. The delicate nature of the subject from the point of view of the party is indicated by the correspondent, who states that although the debate on broadcasting in general and Mr Scrimgeour in particular continued for two hours, a good deal of reticence was shown and no official statement was issued. The discussion was introduced, it appears, by a report submitted by the Minister of Industrial Man-power, Mr McLagan, on behalf of the committee set up, representing both the Federation of Labour, of which he is president, and the Labour Party, to consider the “ Man-in-the-street ” session, formerly conducted by Mr Scrimgeour, and also the relations between Mr Scrimgeour and the Minister of Broadcasting, Mr Wilson. The report, it is understood, defined what the Minister and Mr Scrimgeour can and cannot do. Censorship of Script Delegates are believed to have been given to understand that the suspension order was the direct result of misunderstanding, just prior to its issue, concerning the censorship of a programme consisting of musical items and brief comment, put over the air by Mr Scrimgeour. The Minister, it seems, was given the impression that the programme had not been censored, whereas it was found on further investigation that it had been approved in accordance with the strict instructions given to Mr Scrimgeour in his capacity of controller. This belated discovery led .to the prompt reinstatement of Mr Scrimgeour, and it is claimed that this action was in no way influenced by the vehement protests from industrial organisations. That may or may not be so, but it emerged from the debate that some Labour officials were not too happy about that time concerning Mr Scrimgeour, because of the suspicion that he was too intimately associated with the adherents of another political party. The name of this party was not specified for the information of the delegates. A Motion Refused In the course of a lively debate it was moved that Mr Scrimgeour be brought to the conference to explain his conduct, but the president of the party and chairman of the conference, Mr J. Roberts, refused to accept the motion, ruling that it was not possible to invite a civil servant to a conference of a political organisation, particularly when he was not a member of the party. Prominent in championing the cause of Mr Scrimgeour were several Auckland delegates. In the end the conference adopted the committee’s report and unanimously endorsed the Government’s action in regard to the suspension and reinstatement.

Mr Wilson, speaking at the end of the debate, is said to have made it clear that whoever held the position of controller while he was Minister of Broadcasting would have to act according to instructions, and those instructions included the submission for approval of statements intended for broadcasting.