§ 28 and 29. Mr. DORANasked the Postmaster-General (1) if he will state under what clause of the charter dated 1927 the British Broadcasting Corporation are establishing the Empire broadcasting station at Daventry;
1230 (2) whether, in view of the fact that, listeners in this country will derive little benefit from the Empire short-wave station at Daventry owing to technical reasons, he can arrange with the various Dominions and Colonies, for whose benefit this station is being erected, that they shall defray the cost of upkeep between themselves?
§ Sir K. WOODThe stations of the British Broadcasting Corporation are constructed and maintained under Clauses 2 and 5 to 7 of their Post Office Licence of the 1st January, 1927, and the drafts of the licence and charter were laid before Parliament in Command Paper No. 2756 of 1926. The British Broadcasting Corporation have decided to bear the cost of the Empire Broadcasting Station until the service has been established; and, as I have already stated, they consider themselves free to reopen the question of contributions from the Dominions and Colonies later. Any other course would have led to considerable delay in proceeding with the construction of the station and in the establishment of a service which, I believe, is generally approved.