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as well as by well-known agricultural visitors and 8.8.C. speakers, has been built up over the past few years. New material is constantly being added to it for the benefit of farm sessions from the main National and district stations. The Young Farmers' Leadership Contest was again broadcast, the Dominion final on a link. Portable recording equipment is proving of immense value in enabling the Service to go into the country and record " on the spot " material. Once again main National and Commercial stations were linked each Sunday evening at 8.45 o'clock to broadcast a talk on a special theme or on a topical subject of wide interest. Nearly half of the Sunday evening speakers were New Zealanders. Among the distinguished visitors who spoke in the session were Mr. J. H. Moolman, Chairman of the South African Wool Board ; Mr. K. H. Rahman, Trade Commissioner for Pakistan in Australia ; Sir Patrick Duff; Professor David Marsh ; Dr. Gwendoline M. Carter r Associate Professor of Political Science at Smith College, Massachusetts ; Dr. Norman White, Scientific Adviser to the British Ministry of Food ; Mr. John Forrester-Paton, President of the World's Alliance of Y.M.C.A.'s ; the Bishop of Melanesia, the Right Reverend S. G. Caulton ; the Bishop of Chichester, the Right Reverend G. K. A. Bell; Dr. Lawrence E. Palmer ; Mr. G. Ward Price ; Mr. Michael Joseph ; Sir Angus Gillan ; Mr. E. H. Riches ; Mr. W. D. Forsyth ; Sir Robert Holland ; Rear Admiral J. H. S. Eccles ; and the International Head of the Salvation Army, General Albert Orsborn. The first of the series known as the " Reith Lectures " was received from the British Broadcasting Corporation and presented ; this was a series of six lectures by the noted English philosopher, Bertrand Russell. The Broadcasting organizations of the Commonwealth, the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Australian Broadcasting Commission, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the South African Broadcasting Corporation, and the Radio Division of the United Nations have maintained close co-operation with the Service in spoken programmes. The Service is deeply indebed to these sister organizations for their constant readiness to help in using broadcasting as a means of closer Commonwealth and international understanding. Parliamentary Broadcasts The proceedings of the House of Representatives continued to be relayed by Station 2YA. The presentation of the Budget by the Minister of Finance, the Right Hon. W. Nash, and later the opening of the Budget debate by the Leader of the Opposition,, Mr. S. G. Holland, were broadcast by the main National stations. The Service continues to receive inquiries from other countries about the method used for broadcasting parliamentary proceedings. Plays and Feature Programmes Locally produced plays broadcast throughout the year numbered 466, the increase over last year's figure of 334 being due mainly to the opening of new stations. Of this figure, 352 were broadcast by the National stations and 143 by the Commercial. Twohundred and fifty-one short stories were also presented. There was an increase of 8 in the number of complete plays recorded over the year, 41 in all being recorded. Of these, 21 were over half an hour in length, and authors represented have included W. Somerset Maugham, Noel Coward, G. Gordon Glover, Diana Morgan, George Orwell, Clifford Bax, and J. Jefferson Farjeon. The Production Section also recorded 12 episodes of a children's series entitled " The Fairy Sisters " written by the Wellington author Jack Harper. The total number of scripts submitted to the Service for consideration was 941, approximately the same number as last year. There was a slight increase in the number submitted by New Zealand waiters ; 296 were submitted, as against 270 last year. Of the 272 scripts accepted and purchased, 53 were by New Zealand writers.

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