§ I leave that, and come to a subject not closely connected with postal administration, but which has recently aroused a great deal of interest in the Press and in the country. That is the question of the broadcasting of wireless messages or radio telephone broadcasting. That system has a great vogue in the United States, and a representative of the Post Office, who was recently in the United States, has brought back a report showing that there are 750,000 of these receiving stations opened in the United States. There has also been a considerable increase in the United States in the number of transmitting stations, and the result of this increase has been chaos, and Mr. Hoover, the Minister of the American Government under whose charge this work is done, has recently appointed a Committee to propose legislation to correct the chaos brought about by the unregulated erection of transmitting stations. They have drawn up, I understand, very drastic recommendations. We fortunately have avoided that difficulty. I hope we shall be able to learn from the experience of the United States, and that the proposals which I am going to make will enable the public interested in this new science, and desiring to avail themselves of it, to have a reasonable service without causing interference either with commercial use or Government use of the wireless or with the facilities open to each other. Proposals came to me from 1601 several quarters for permission to open transmitting stations in this country. I referred those proposals to the Wireless Sub-committee of the Imperial Communication Committee presided over by my right hon. Friend the Member for Blackburn (Sir Henry Norman). They made recommendations which I adopted. I have decided to allow the establishment of a limited number of radio-telephone broadcasting stations. The country will be divided roughly into areas centring upon London, Cardiff, Plymouth, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow or Edinburgh, but not both, and Aberdeen, and one or more broadcasting stations will be allowed in each of those areas. Permission for these stations will only be granted to British firms who are bonâ fide manufacturers of wireless apparatus. It is impossible, and it would not be in the interests of wireless if I granted all the applications that have been made to me for the right of transmission. What I am doing is to ask all those who apply—the various firms who have applied—to come together at the Post Office and cooperate so that an efficient service may be rendered and that there may be no danger of monopoly and that each service shall not be interfering with the efficient working of the other. The stations will be limited to a power of 1½ kilowatts and furnished with wave lengths which should not interfere with other services. The normal hours for broadcasting will be from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., except on Sundays, when there will be no limit. There will be certain regulations in regard to the character and classes of news which these agencies will be allowed to transmit, but on that head I have not yet come to a final decision.
§ Mr. INSKIPWho will be the censor?
§ Mr. KELLAWAYThere are various wave lengths. It covers a fairly wide field. I cannot give the various lengths at the moment, but I will see that they are provided before the discussion is ended. I also propose that the facilities for obtain-permits for the reception of these messages shall be greatly simplified, and in the future it will be possible for anyone desiring to instal a receiving set to go to any post office and receive it for 10s., in the way they can obtain any other 1602 licence. The possibilities of this service are almost unlimited. In the United States of America it was suggested that some arrangement might be made by which speeches of members of Congress might be radiated, and I can foresee a time when perhaps on this table a receiver will be properly concealed so as not to jar the aesthetic sense of Members, and their eloquence will be transmitted to those of their constituents who are prepared to pay for the cost.