RADIO LICENCE FEES

Southland Times, Issue 24533, 6 September 1941, Page 8

RADIO LICENCE FEES

Reduction Is Not Favoured (Special) WELLINGTON, Sept. 5. An attempt to persuade the Government to reduce the annual licence tee of 25/- for owners of radio receiving sets was made by the Opposition during the debate on the Broadcasting Estimates in the House of Representatives today. The move was not cessful and an amendment that the vote of £297,770 for broadcasting should be reduced by £lO, as reserves of £BBO,OOO showed that the fee should be lowered, was defeated by 31 votes to 17, Mr J. A. Lee (Democratic Labour, Grey Lynn) voting with the Government. “A case has been made for a reduction in the fee charged to the general public.” said the Leader, of the Opposition (Mr S. G. Holland), who moved the amendment. He believed that the reserves had reached a high enough level and that the fee could be reduced without impairing the financial stability of the enterprise. Mr F. W. Doidge (Nat., Tauranga) said that listeners in New Zealand paid a licence fee which was the largest in the world. In Britain the fee was 15/-. When the broadcasting accounts showed such a substantial surplus surely the Government could give some relief. ,

Mr Lee said he hoped licence fees would not be reduced out of profits. If there were profits to spare they could be better used to encourage New Zealand art and cultural activities, thus giving the younger generation a background for intelligent listening.

“NO GENERAL DISSATISFACTION” “The fact that New Zealand has the highest percentage of licensed listeners in the world shows that there is no general dissatisfaction with the fees, and outside the House I have heard no suggestion that they should be reduced,” said Mr J. Robertson (Lab., Masterton). The Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes (Nat., Hurunui) said he favoured a reduction of the fees. The late Prime Minister, he said, had declared that his desire was to enable all the people of the country to have the benefit of. the radio.

The acting Prime Minister (the Hon. W. Nash) said that the New Zealand fee was not the highest in the world. In South Africa the charge was 30/- a year, in the Netherlands East Indies it was 45/-, and in Russia 48/-. An Opposition member: What about Borneo?

Mr Nash: That is where the wild men come from.

Referring to the contention of Mr Holland that the accumulated funds totalled £BBO,OOO, Mr Nash said that the actual figure was some £340,000 less than this amount. Buildings and equipment had been bought out of the £BBO,OOO and in normal times more of the money would have been used to provide new stations. He would be glad to have money invested in the war account.

Mr W. S. Goosman (Nat.,/Waikato), drew attention to the fact that a profit of £170,000 had been made bn an investment of £250,000. He said that had a private firm made such a profit Government members would have been the first to accuse it of exploiting the public.