COSTLY UNDERTAKING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27358, 6 April 1950, Page 8

COSTLY UNDERTAKING

Points Of Justification

PA WELLINGTON, Apl. 5. About one-ninth of the whole of the 1 broadcasting revenue, national and commercial, is required to maintain the National Orchestra. This was stated by the Minister in Charge of Broadcasting, Mr Doidge, when asked this evening to supplement the statement by the Prime Minister that the orchestra, estimated at the time of its establishment to cost £40,000 a year, had in reality reached a gross figure ■of £IOO,OOO last year. .Mr Doidge said that for the current year the gross expenditure was estimated at £83,000. The Director of Broadcasting, Mr W. Yates, hoped to effect further savings, but that was not going to be easy. Mr Doidge said that in New Zealand, as in other countries, the National Orchestra was an expensive undertaking. Before the establishment of the National Orchestra in 1946, it was estimated that the cost of the orchestra would be £40,000 a year. Actually, in 1947-48 the net cost was £46,000, and in the following year the net figure was £63,000. The main reason for the increase to the gross figure of £IOO,OOO in 1949-50 was to be found in the new conditions affecting pay, travel allowances and overtime. Salaries last year cost £41,000, travelling allowances £14.500, and overtime, £20,000. Furthermore the size of the orchestra had increased.

Mr Doidge said it would be possible to save in travelling allowances and the hire of halls by cancelling concert bookings in minor centres, but that would modify the whole purpose of the National Orchestra. He felt that the orchestra might be more generously treated by municipalities, large and small. The Broadcasting Service paid full rents for concerts and rehearsals. though it rendered a service to their communities. He felt that in future it would be justified in asking local authorities to reciprocate with concessions.

“ The earnings of the National Orchestra are not large,” said Mr Doidge. “A year’s revenue would not exceed £12,000. Maybe our maximum prices are to low. They range from 2s 6d to 7s 6d. Private concert managements charge from 3s 6d to 12s 6d and a guinea. Could not our maximum price be raised to 10s 6d? It must not be forgotten, of course, that there are invisible assets, including the programme value of broadcasts and the free service given the Education Department in school concerts. Moreover, it has to be remembered that the round figure of £IOO.OOO involves the cost of concert artists, which would approximate £SOOO, and is offset by the concert proceeds of £12.000. It is true, as the Prime Minister stated, that when this Government took office in December it looked as though the Broadcasting Service, once a moneyspinner, would complete the financial year ending March 31 showing a definite loss. Happily, this has been averted, but only by a very narrow margin.” Mr Doidge said that the licence fees last year brought in more than £500,000. The commercial stations earned nearly £400,000. The listener paid a licence fee of 25s a year, but the service he got cost 40s for each licence issued. Mr Doidge said he hoped, in the course of the next few days, with the assistance of the Director of Broadcasting and the assistant director, Mr J. H. E. Schroder, to issue a statement indicating how it was hoped to improve the programmes at the price.