F.—3.

Following on the Board's policy of securing the services of artists and companies touring the Dominion, listeners had the opportunity during the year of hearing, amongst others, the Dame Sybil Thorndike Shakesperian Co., John Brownlee, Ernest McKinley, Peter Dawson, Anderson Tyrer, the Spivakovsky-Kurtz Trio, Ronald Chamberlain, and Madame Nanette de Lornay. Talks (Educative). Two hundred and ninety-six talks, covering a wide range of subjects, were delivered under the auspices of the Workers' Educational Association. During the year educational talks for schools were given from IYA, 2YA, and 3YA, but the decision to close the training colleges at Auckland and Christchurch has interfered temporarily with arrangements at those places. The Board, however, is desirous of making a permanent feature of school broadcasts, and is hopeful of attaining that end shortly. Talks (General). Talks on matters of general interest have increased considerably in popularity, and during the years listeners had the opportunity of hearing many speakers from overseas. Amongst these were — Dr. Torrance, well-known research worker in tropical medicine ; Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, famous aviator ; Mr. Pelham Warner, ex test cricketer ; Mr. F. W. Doidge, overseas journalist; Mr. Henry Mason, English film critic ; Lieutenant-Commander L. E. Porter, Australian Navy ; Mr. T. Baxter, National Farmers' Union of England and Wales; Rear - Admiral Byrd, Antarctic Expedition; Mr. F. J. Perry, English tennis-player. Plays and Sketches. Over two hundred plays and sketches were presented from the four main stations during the year. " The Merchant of Venice," played by the Dame Sybil Thorndike Shakesperian Co., was an outstanding performance, and other plays worthy of special mention were —" Waterloo," " The Splendid Hour," and " Sir Christopher Wren." Overseas Rebroadcasts. Reception from the Empire Short-wave Station has not fulfilled expectations. At times speech is received satisfactorily, but because of the uncertainty the broadcasts have not any great value from the programme-building point of view. Nevertheless, through the medium of the Empire Station, many noteworthy broadcasts have been made available to our listeners. Included in the overseas rebroadcasts undertaken during the year were —Speeches by His Majesty the King and the Right Hon. Ramsay Mac Donald at the opening of the Monetary and Economic Conference; speeches by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and Sir Thomas Wilford at the New Zealand Day celebration in London ; the " Southern Seas " broadcast on Empire Day ; the Armistice Day service at the Cenotaph, Whitehall, London ; special Christmas Day programme arranged by the British Broadcasting Corporation, including a Christmas message to the Empire from His Majesty the King. Outside Broadcasts and Sporting Broadcasts. Among the numerous outside broadcasts arranged during the year were those dealing with the trans-Tasman flights made in the aeroplanes " Southern Cross " and " Faith in Australia " ; the Military parade on the King's Birthday at Auckland ; the programme arranged by the Rotary Club and relayed from the Hospital Gardens, Christchurch. Sporting broadcasts were numerous, and included descriptions of —Matches played by the United States of America Tennis team (Allison, Vines, Gledhill, and Van Ryn) and New Zealand players ; the races for the Sanders Cup ; M.C.C. Cricket Team's matches against New Zealand and against Wellington ; the Test matches played between the Australian Universities' Rugby team and the New Zealand Universities' representatives ; tennis-matches between England (Perry, Wilde, and Lee) and New Zealand (Malfroy, Bartleet, and Sturt) ; tennis-matches played by Crawford and McGrath (Australia) against New Zealand players ; the finals of the Amateur Boxing Championships (relayed from Blenheim) ; the final of the New Zealand Amateur Golf Championship ; descriptions of twenty-four representative and sixty-six inter-club Rugby football matches were broadcast; racing broadcasts were given on ninety-nine days during the year ; manv of the more important events being relayed to and broadcast from the Board's four main stations ; descriptions of fifty professional wrestling matches and of several professional boxing contests were broadcast. Special Services. Talks on agricultural matters, gardening, and cookery were increased during the year. In addition to the ordinary daily weather reports and forecasts, special reports were broadcast for the information of farmers throughout the lambing and shearing seasons. A new feature introduced during the vear was a special daily weather forecast for aviators. Wool-growers were specially catered for bv'the frequent broadcasting of prices realized at all the wool sales. There were broadcast during the year 406 appeals for information regarding missing persons or persons whose whereabouts were required on account of the serious illness of relatives, and over three hundred inquiries for missing motor-vehicles were broadcast. The Mayors' Relief Funds at the four main centres were considerably augmented by the response to frequent broadcast appeals and by the returns from entertainments arranged by the Board. In addition, appeals were sponsored for many other worthy charitable objects.

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