The Waipukurau Press. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1932 RADIO RESTRICTIONS

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 205, 24 August 1932, Page 4

The Waipukurau Press. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1932 RADIO RESTRICTIONS

In the opinion of the “Timaru Herald,” the Postmaster-General has in effect, assumed powers which virtually place him in the position of dictator of the news-gathering activities of the newspapers; first by substantially reducing the maximum number of telegraphed words the newspapers may receive daily, and now by forbidding the publication of news picked up by radio. “The Minister’s fears that the revenue of the Department will be affected are quite groundless,” continues the “Herald,” “the newspapers of New Zealand pay the Post and Telegraph Department tens of thousands of pounds annually for cable and telegraph service; indeed, without the business of the newspapers, very few telegraph offices in New Zealand would remain open after eight o’clock in the evening. The Minister’s decision is so unsound and so unreasonable that it cannot stand.” As the “f’ress” views the matter, the regulation referred to appears in the light of an undue interference with the liberty of the newspapers and in turn that section of the public not blessed with the required time to play a continuous waiting game as to the reception of items broadcasted. It is only a small percentage of extra or the latest news that a newspaper can in any case glean by means of wireless, and for the most part is eleventh hour intelligence that cannot be received by telegraph in time for publication in its current issue. There should be no conflict between newspaper and broadcasting services; each has a place to fill in the sum total of public needs in this connection without seriously trespassing on the territory of the other. It is noteworthy that many newspapers, including the “Press,” feature free publicity in the interests of radio enthusiasts, being oentent to treat the broadcasting service as complementary to, rather than rivalling the newspaper. THE CALL TO AMERICANS “To-day, America,” says the Economist, “with her eyes blinded by the dust of the electoral arena, is in no , mood to think over-much of world problems. By the autumn, the atmosphere in the United States will be different. If a final settlement be achieved at Lausanne, it will be impossible for the American ‘man in the street’ to avoid saying to himself: “In order to remove what they conceived to be a fatal obstacle to the recovery of international trade these Europeans have cancelled their claims in respect of inter-Govern-mental war debts among themselves, although they knew that they ran a risk of still having to pay their dabts to America at a cost of a great burden to their own budgets. Should we not perhaps be wise to follow the same policy in our own interests?”