The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1932. THE WONDERS OF RADIO.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19375, 27 December 1932, Page 8

The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1932. THE WONDERS OF RADIO.

Some months ago, a speaker in Britain said: “Henceforth, history will be divided intp the periods of 8.0., A.D., and 8.8. C.” We are. told that laughter greeted this sally, but there was a realisation of the truth behind it. We live in a new' era, in which broadeasting is playing an increasingly influential part in the lives of the people in all lands. The ether is crowded with voices. Messages, important world messages, are shouted from country to country. Like the African drums sounding through the dark forests, broadcasting carries messages to the ends of the earth that all must hear. Millions listen every day, every evening, to the world’s voices singing through the dynamos. The King's broadcast of the special Christmas message from Sandringham, heard so distinctly in New Zealand, is a notable event in the history of the race. This is not the first radio broadcast of the King's speech that has been heard in New Zealand; but on no previous occasion, have such elaborate and complete arrangements been made to bring the King and people into such close communication. For some days the new' station at Daventry has been heard throughout the Dominion, and the new 7 service has been received w’ith intense interest, although there are deficiencies that are obvious to the average radio enthusiast. On Christmas Eve, the Pope broadcasted an inspiring message to the Roman Catholic world, proclaiming a holy year in celebration of the nineteentli century of the death of Christ. Stressing the grievous difficulties among the nations and thet errors of war and civil w'ars, which are worsening financial and economic crises, the Pope appeals for more devotion to the spiritual side of life’s activities. Moreover, cable messages this morning tell a thrilling story of Europe’s Christmas broadcasts. Only the boldest radio expert would attempt to forecast the possible development of broadcasting, within the next year or tw'o. A few years ago the very suggestion that the people of the farthest outposts of the far-flun’g Commonwealth of British Nations would, within a few r years, be able to prolong their Christmas festivities a few hours into the following night, and then gather round a receiving set to listen to the voice of the King speaking through the ether to his subjects, in the ends of the earth, conveying the Royal Christmas message of inspiration and good will, would have been regarded as incredulous. The British Broadcasting Company aims at inaugurating a service that will transmit right round the clock in order that programmes may reach all parts of the Empire at appropriate times. This great ideal, nobly conceived, will no doubt, in time be ably executed. From the outset, the organisers had hoped that the service wmuld be inaugurated by a message spoken by the King himself to the hundreds of millions of subjects throughout the world. This ideal has now been attained. For the moment, it is impossible to forecast the wonderful possibilities that are coming with television now past the experimental stage; it may not be inappropriate to hint at the manner in w'hich radio is aiding modern medicine and enabling surgeons of to-day to perform miracles. Then there is the romance of the radiophone, by means of which the people of many nations, and passengers on ships at sea, now' telephone to distant cities by the aid of radio. These are only a few of the wonders of modern broadsasting, but perhaps, to quote the 8.8. C. experts, enough is now known to reveal that in the little box of sound at the elbow' of the arm chair at home, is a world in itself, a world of romance and mystery, which increases its marvels daily, for there are apparently no limits to the possibilities of broadcasting which many regard as the greatest invention bf an age.

MR CARR AND THE “CABLE CRAMMER.”

Quoting “Headway,” the official organ of the League of Nations Union, the Member for Timaru, in a letter addressed to us this morning, claims that some reference made by Lord Robert Cecil, “effectively disposes of the vicious misrepresentations of the ‘ cable crammer.’” Mr Carr has set. himself the task of proving that the newspapers and the cable services that furnish New Zealand wdth Overseas news were attempting to mislead the readers of the Press of New Zealand, when they reported that the speech delivered by Mr de Valera at the opening of the Thirteenth Assembly of the League of Nations was received with “stony silence.” If Mr Carr will take the trouble to examine Lord Cecil’s references to Mr de Valera’s speech, he will fail to find any reference at all to the reception of Mr de Valera’s speech at the time of delivery. Basing his case on extracts from “Headway,” the official organ of the League of Nations Union, Mr Carr accuses the “cable-crammer” of “vicious misrepresentation.” But we will go further than that, and say that if the official organ of the League of Nations Union did not record the fact that Mr

de Valera’s speech was received with “stony silence,” then “Headway,” as the mouthpiece of the League of Nations Union, is guilty of gross suppression of unpalatable truth. Obviously, everything Lord Cecil said may be must scrupulously truthful, but we doubt if Mr Carr, notwithstanding his mania for attacking ihe Press, can find in Lord Cecil's statement any proof whatever of the allegation that the “cablecrammer” indulged in “vicious misrepresentation” in reporting Mr de Valera’s speech. As against Mr Carr’s attempt to prove that one and one makes three, and his rather overstrained effort to prove misrepresentation without requisite facts, w r e have reliable proof that Mr Carr himself has been led into error by placing implicit reliance on the official organ of the League of Nations Union. Here is the proof that the cable man did not indulge in vicious misrepresentation. as alleged by Mr Carr. It is interesting to mention, in passing, too, that of all the London newspapers* which whole-heartedly support the League of Nations, The News-Chronicle gives place to none other. Hence when, A. ,T. Cummings, special correspondent for the London News-Chronicle, telegraphing from Geneva on September 26, furnished the following report of the incident discussed by Mr Carr, he took pains to tell the whole storv:

The chief event of the first session of the League Assembly to-day was the introductory speech of Mr de Valera, In his capacity of President of the .Council.

It was the most candid peace of criticism that within my recollection any League chairman has ever dared to utter. Yet the speech was moderate in tone, entirely without bitterness and indeed indicative of the speaker’s sympathy with the work and the aims of the League institution. It was listened to in dead silence. There was not a murmur of applause until Mr de Valera referred at the end to the approaching retirement of the Secretary-General (Sir Eric Drummond) and paid a well-deserved tribute to his services to the League. Delegates shuffled uneasily in their chairs and kept their eyes downcast, as if embarrassed by the novelty and the impropriety of any form of deliberate official criticism. Afterwards, however, in the lobbies, the speech received nothing but praise; and in private many delegates expressed their envious admiration of Mr de Valera’s courage.

For my part, I felt instinctively that the acting President had pressed the right button, that it was high time the League received a powerful electric jolt, and that it was well that the electric current had for once been turned on from within.

The reports indicated that some days later Lord Cecil dismissed at once with curt contempt the criticisms of the “lunatics” in all countries who really desired that the attempt to organise peace should fail and to that end exaggerated every failure. But he agreed with the extremely valuable speech of Mr de Valera that there was outside a real feeling of dissatisfaction. Shortly the broad charge was a double one—that the League extravagantly did nothing. The News-Chronicle, commenting on Mr de Valera’s challenge to the delegates assembled at Geneva, said:

Mr de Valera’s unconventional address to the League Assembly may at least have the satisfactory result of causing both friends and enemies of the League to examine with fresh eyes the grounds on which they hold their respective opinions. It is highly desirable that they should do so; for there is a great deal of truth in Mr de Valera's assertion that people are beginning to complain about the League, and to suspect that "little more than lip-service is paid to the fundamental principles on which the League is founded.”

It would appear that Mr Carr is futilely attempting to throw dust in the eyes of the people. It is admitted, however, that the cool attitude of members of the League Assembly did not, in any way lessen the shattering effect of Mr de Valera’s fearless criticism of the League, for he was voicing world opinion when he declared (we are quoting from publicity issued from the Information Section of the League of Nations at Geneva), that there was on all sides complaint, criticism, and suspicion of the League’s policy; and “the trust to be placed in the League would be measured by the confidence which its more powerful members had in the security which the League was able to afford, and that confidence would be measured by the success or failure of the Disarmament Conference.” How, then, does the League of Nations measure up to the yardstick applied by Mr de Valera ?