PARLIAMENTARY NOTES

Waikato Times, Volume 112, Issue 18778, 28 October 1932, Page 10

PARLIAMENTARY NOTES

RADIO SERVICE. ACQUISITION BY THE STATE. STATEMENT TABLED IN HOUSE. DETAILS OF ARRANGEMENTS MADE (Times Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Friday. Arrangements In connection with the acquisition of the broadcasting service by the State are reviewed in a statement made to the House of Representatives this morning by the Postmaster-General, the Hon. A. Hamilton. Mr Hamilton said that a deed dated September 9, 1932, had been entered into between the Minister and the New Zealand Broadcasting Board under which the board acquired the assets purchased by the Crown from the Radio Broadcasting Company of New Zealand, Limited. The price fixed by arbitration to be paid by the Crown for the assets of the Radio Broadcasting Company was £58,646 6s 2d. The share of the costs of arbitration paid by the Post and Telegraph Department and the expenses Incurred by the Department in valuing the assets, together with adjustments, amountei to £1193 11s. Payment of the whole amount —namely, £59,839 17s 2d—-was made out of the Post Office Account and treated as a loan to the Broadcasting Board, approval under section 19 of the Broadcasting Act being given by the Minister of Finance to the amount being a charge on the property and rights of the Board. The deed between the Minister and the Board provided that, in consideration of the New Zealand Government vesting in the board all the assets and the property acquired from the Radio Broadcasting Company, the board covenanted to charge all Its property real and personal, present and future, to the extent of the total amount paid. The charge was a first mortgage over all this property, but power was given to release from this charge at any time, such property as may be deemed necessary.

“Provision,” the Minister added, “Is also made for the repayment of the principal, sum within ten years. Quarterly instalments of £12*50 are payable on the last days of March, June, September, and December in each year, wl>h the right of repayment on any quarter-day of such amount in excess of this as the board may so desire. (The sum of £3789 17s 2d in repayment of principal was paid on September 30, 1932). Interest, payable, quarterly, is fixed at 6 per cent., reducible to 5 per cent, if paid within twenty days of due dite.

“In addition to the usual covenants to be found in deeds' of this description, .the board is required to insure all its property against fire and earthquake; and power is given for the inspection of any plant, premises, books, eto., reasonable time. An agreement also dated September 9, 1932, has been entered into with the board covering the terms and conditions and method of payment of fees collected for receiving-station and other lioenses. Under the agreeemnt provision is made for the payment to the board of five-sixths of *the license fees received from listeners. The fees receievd each year by the Post and Telegraph Department are to be apportioned over the period covered by the licenses issued. Such Tees are paid mostly for a full year; and these are apportioned over that, period. Lesser periods are apportioned over the months concerned.

Concurrently with, the above statement the Minister tabled a further statement setting cut the full details of the award made by His Honour Mr Justice Blair in connection with the acquisition of the Radio Broadcasting Company’s assets by the Post and Telegraph Department. His Honour’s reasons for his award are also given.

BANANA IMPORTS.

BYBTEIW OF CONTROL. "BEST INTERESTS OF ALL.” WELLINGTON, Thursday. The announcement that the importation of bananas to New Zealand would be limited to 25,000 cases every four weeks from May to September, and to 30,000 cases during the remainder of the year, was made in the House of representatives by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, to-day. “Owing to the considerable oversupply of bananas to the New Zealand market, which resulted in ruinous prices and heavy losses to £jl supplying countries (including the Cook Islands and Western Samoa), the Government has decided to limit the quantities to be shipped,’’ said Mr Forbes. "Many growers were oi\, the point of being forced out of production, and the result would have been a shortage of supplies, with a corresponding increase in price to the consumer in New Zealand, followed by disturbing fluctuations both in supplies and in prices.

“The position -of growers in the Cook Islands and Western Samoa was most serious, and the Government was reluctant to consider anything in the nature of a duty, which would be the only alternative to (lie quota system. The present arrangement is considered to be in the best interests of both the producers and consumers, who will each benefit by a system of orderly marketing.” it THE PRICE OF WHEAT. IN BOTH ISLANDS. SHOULD BE ON EQUAL BASIS. WELLINGTON. Thursday. In the House of Representatives last evening the necessity of ensuring that the price of milling wheal should he the same in the North Island as in the South was emphasised by the Minis(Continued in next Column.)

der of Agriculture, the Hon. C. E. Macmillan. The Minister read a statement which he made to growers In the South Island; both at Timaru and at Christchurch. He said representatives of the growers were quite satisfied that there was room for investigation into the costs of milling wheat as it went from producer to consumer. Mr Macmillan said he had suggested that there should be some equalisation of price as between North and South Islands. He thought It must be agreed that all consumers should be placed on the same footing. That view was appreciated in the South Island. The producer there got the benefit of the sliding scale and It had never been Intended that groups of merchants in either Island should get the benefit. Sectional Advantage. Mr C. L. Carr (Labour —Timaru) : You believe they are getting the benefit? Mr Macmillan: From figures which have been placed before me, I believe they are, particularly in such a time as the present when supplies of the commodity are short and there Is a tendency toward cornering. It would do away with many difficulties if the people in the South Island who handled wheat, and had it handled under legislative authority, were to see that tlie price at Lyttelton and other South Island ports was the same as the price at which it was landed at North Island ports. Mr A. Harris (Government—-Waite-mala) : It was done In the case of sugar. Mr Macmillan: At present one section of consumers has an' advantage over another section. Canterbury lands are suitable for wheat and there it is necessary to plant it to secure rotation of crops. We can grow wheat in the North Island, but that would mean duplication of machinery, because the freight from Lyttelton to Auckland is little less than the freight from Sydney to Auckland. The feeling in the North Island is that the consumer as well as the producer In the South Island has an advantage. A suggestion for equalisation of prices lias met with a ready response and should appeal in (lie North Island.