MIDDLESBROUGH CORPORATION BILL. [H.L.] (Hansard, 30 March 1933)

THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES (THE EARL OF ONSLOW)
My Lords, I beg to move that Standing Order No. 105 be considered in order to its being dispensed with in respect of this Bill.

THE EARL OF ONSLOW
My Lords, in moving that the Bill be read a second time I would like to explain, as the noble Lord, Lord Mount Temple, has a Motion 185 on the Paper with regard to it, that it is usual, as your Lordships are aware, when a member of your Lordships' House has any comment to make on a Bill, that an independent Peer should move the Bill; but in this ease I think there is no objection whatever to this suggestion of the noble Lord's. In fact, if he had not put it on the Paper, I should have drawn the attention of the Chairman of the Committee to it in the usual way because this Part of the Bill is not opposed. I beg to move.

§ LORD MOUNT TEMPLE,
who had given Notice that in the event of the Bill being read 2^a, he would move to resolve, That this House is of opinion that Part VII of the Bill requires to be specially considered by the Committee to which the Bill will be referred, said: My Lords, Part VII of this Bill gives the Middlesbrough Corporation powers to establish a wireless exchange. Perhaps some noble Lords do not know what a wireless exchange really is. A wireless exchange is a receiving station so designed as to be capable of receiving broadcast matter from distant radiating stations. It can receive the various programmes radiated by the British Broadcasting Company or other stations which radiate broadcast matter. This matter would then be amplified and connected to the Corporation's existing electricity supply network, which connections can be made in such a manner that the programme from more than one radiating station can be so connected at the same time.
Under the operation of this scheme a consumer entering into an agreement with the Corporation will have a. selector and loud speaker installed in consideration of a certain weekly payment, estimated as not likely to exceed 1s. 6d., which is very cheap. This would cover all expenses, including the cost of the Post, Office licence and of a suitable selector and loud speaker. The consumer, without having to incur the expense of a separate receiving set, will be able to select at will any programme from among the alternative programmes being distributed by the Corporation at 186 any one time. The wireless exchange does not, and may not, originate the matter which it transmits to its subscribers by direct wires or by the electric light main. It has a very effective receiver, enabling it to receive matter broadcast by the British Broadcasting Company as well as by the great majority of foreign stations.
I think it is obvious that these exchanges are an advantage to the less well-to-do public, and I do not quarrel with them; but I would ask whether a Corporation ought to be granted these powers. Is this a legitimate extension of municipal enterprise? Hitherto these exchanges have been owned and operated by private companies, and have, I submit, given good service. Is this departure in the public interest? It is entirely a new precedent, and I trust that the Committee will see their way to recommend this House to delete Part VII of the Bill. We all have our opinions upon municipal enterprise and private enterprise. Some people, like the noble Viscount, Lord Snowden, would, I believe, like to see a very wide extension of municipal enterprise. I personally take an exactly opposite view. I think that municipal enterprise should be confined within the strictest possible limits, and that you should rely mainly upon private enterprise, which has done so well for us in the past. However, that is a matter of opinion and I only draw attention to the precedent which this Bill sets.
This is not a small matter, because these wireless exchange companies are expanding very rapidly. It was only in 1926 that the first of them was instituted at Lytham and St. Annes in Lancashire. There are 200 exchanges now, with some 80,000 subscribers—I admit a small proportion to the great number of listeners-in, perhaps 2½ per cent, or 3 per cent., not more; but they are extending rapidly. As the Postmaster-General has fixed the limit of each exchange at no fewer than 100,000 subscribers he evidently anticipates an immense growth. Under present conditions I submit that these exchanges may well get out of hand. What is there to prevent several large exchanges with their 100,000 subscribers being merged under a single financial control, in which municipalities, if they are given the power, might com- 187 bine—a vast power in my opinion, equalling or exceeding that of the British Broadcasting Company?
What restrictions are there at the present moment on these exchanges? There is only one. That is the licence of the Postmaster-General, to which he attaches conditions which he can vary or recall. What are these conditions? I think they are four in number:—Wireless exchanges are not allowed to originate their own programmes; the Postmaster-General can prohibit the relaying of programmes transmitted by any specified station; the wireless exchange is prohibited from receiving payment or any other consideration for relaying any programme or item transmitted by a foreign broadcasting station; the wireless exchange, finally, is prohibited from relaying to its subscribers any speech of a political or controversial character broadcast in English from a foreign station. Now, my Lords, I would ask, as a matter of practical politics, are these limitations now effective? I say, No, Do the Post Office authorities search through the programmes of these two hundred exchanges every day or every week? I say they do riot. Do they look at all the logs which they say you have to keep? I say, No. Could they do so? I doubt it; and certainly not, with the coming great extension of these exchanges, without an army of examiners and great expense. Then too, after all, this is rather a haphazard way of controlling them; it is shutting the door after the steed has been stolen. Nothing under the present system can be done until the crime or transgression has been committed.
I do submit that it was with a very definite purpose in mind that the Conservative Government of 1928 gave the British Broadcasting Company a constitution which would provide it with the maximum amount of independence so that it would be free from any political bias or control. It was thought desirable, and still presumably is thought desirable, that, however controversial the matter broadcast, in whatever realm of thought, a fair and independent neutral balance should be struck between opposing lines of thought. It was also thought desirable, and still presumably is, that programmes should be balanced in so far as the amount of each ingredient is concerned; 188 that is, that there should be something for everybody's taste together with something (to which nobody need listen if they do not wish) of an instructive and educational nature. My point is this: The wireless exchange may, and probably will, completely upset this balance. Either the exchange may broadcast an excessive amount of entertainment, to the detriment of the entertainment industry, or it may broadcast an excessive amount of one-sided controversial matter. The capitalist companies may select only items which express their economic views, and the Socialist municipalities those items which further Collectivism. There are endless possibilities of trouble even if the Postmaster-General's limitations are observed.
Now I come to what is in my humble opinion the remedy. In Germany the programmes of wireless exchanges are restricted to items taken from the programmes of German broadcasting stations. I think that gees much too far. We do not want to tie down these wireless exchanges only to what the British Broadcasting Corporation provides, but I do submit this: as you have a Corporation—the British Broadcasting Corporation—constituted within the last five years by Parliament expressly to deal with such matters, why not, in the name of common sense, place these exchanges under the general control of the British Broadcasting Corporation and so of Parliament? When I say "control," I do not wish to give the British Broadcasting Corporation power to restrict the programme of these exchanges beyond the rules of the Postmaster-General, but let them see that the licence conditions are observed. You will get uniformity and real control of the items of news allowed, which Parliament desired to achieve in the Act of 1928. So, finally, I would ask the Committee specially to consider: (1) whether this extension of municipal enterprise is wise or not—and I hope they will refuse this extension—and (2) whether, if it is, what further control of this municipal exchange could be secured by placing it generally under the British Broadcasting Corporation or by some other method. I understand that the promoters of this Bill have no objection to this Motion which I now move.

§ THE EARL OF HALSBURY
My Lords, I rise on this Motion to say one or two words and for one particular reason. I hope in the near future to bring before your Lordships' House what I venture to say is the thoroughly bad present constitution of what is popularly known as the B.B.C. and has been erroneously called by the noble Lord the British Broadcasting Company. It is the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Corporation has certain powers; the company which is still in existence has other powers. Whenever they want to get out of one thing they say: "Oh, that is the Corporation," and whenever they want to get out of another thing they say: "Oh, that is the company." That is one of the things I propose to bring before your Lordships' House at a very near date. The noble Lord omitted one matter when he gave the four limitations that could be imposed upon anybody broadcasting. The fifth, which is the most important, is this—there is an absolute veto by the Postmaster-General on anything, quite apart from the particular things which it is suggested ought not to be broadcast. The Postmaster-General has a right of veto on any broacast; he can stop it, and on some occasions he has stopped it. The noble Lord will find that absolute provision in the Bill. It is the most important one because, after all, the Postmaster-General is always a member of the Government, and if the Government think that any particular subject cannot fitly be broadcast, then undoubtedly, through the Postmaster-General, they would see it is not. I venture to interfere in this matter simply to keep open to myself later on the opportunity of bringing up the whole question of broadcasting.

§ LORD DARYNGTON
My Lords, it must be readily recognised that no one can possibly try to oppose a Motion of this kind, but, on behalf of the promoters, I should like to say one or two words in regard to the Bill, and specially mention the fact that the Postmaster-General and the British Broadcasting Corporation both agree to the policy mentioned in this Bill. There are one or two Amendments which I desire to put in and to which the promoters agree.
190 In general outline, the scheme of Part VII of the Bill is to ensure that, in response to a demand such as is springing up all over the country as well as in Middlesbrough, electricity consumers in the statutory electricity limits of the Corporation may have the opportunity of being supplied with alternative wireless programmes through their existing electric lighting service in the best and most economical manner and without any interference with amenities. All that is necessary for this purpose is that receiving stations (so designed as to be capable of receiving broadcast matter from distant radiating stations under the best conditions for reception and transmission) should be provided, which can receive the various programmes radiated by the British Broadcasting Corporation or other stations which originate broadcast matter, which matter would then be amplified and connected to the Corporation's existing electricity supply network, which connections can be made in such a manner that the programme from more than one radiating station can be so connected at the same time. Under the operation of the scheme a consumer entering into an agreement with the Corporation will, in consideration of a certain weekly payment—estimated as not likely to exceed is. 6d., which would cover all expenses including the cost of the Post Office licence and of a suitable selector and loud speaker—have such selector and loud speaker installed by which he can, without having to incur the expense of a separate receiving set, select at will, any one programme from among the alternative programmes being distributed by the Corporation at any one time. Engineering evidence which is available will show that such transmission by means of the Corporation's existing electricity distribution system will not interfere with other services, whether for lighting or for power, afforded to the same premesis by means of the same electric line; and also that the addition of this further service does not entail any greater wear and tear upon or impair or shorten the life of the existing electric plant and apparatus.
One of the particular advantages of a municipal system of wireless distribution is, as my noble friend said, that owing to the utilisation of the existing electricity distribution system of the Corporation, which is laid largely underground, 191 no new net-work of overhead wires will be necessary—anyone who like myself has had experience in the Post Office during a number of years will realise how important that is—as is generally the case where companies are operating such systems by means of overhead lines erected under licence from the local authorities but separately from any existing electricity distribution system. Incidentally, the provision of this service will also stimulate the demand for electricity from those householders who are not at present electricity consumers.