§ Sir J. POWERasked the Postmaster-General whether it is now the policy of the British Broadcasting Corporation to allow unlimited facilities for the members of His Majesty's Government to make broadcast speeches on matters of public interest?
§ Mr. LEES-SMITHNo, Sir. The British Broadcasting Corporation were informed in March, 1928, that the prohibition which had previously been imposed on the broadcasting of political and controversial matter was withdrawn; that the responsibility for using this power would devolve solely upon the Governors; and that they would be expected to use their discretionary power in the spirit of the Report of Lord Crawford's Committee. This Committee had recommended "that a moderate amount of controversial matter should be broadcast, provided the material is of high quality and distributed with scrupulous fairness, and858W that the discretion of the Governors in this connection should be upheld." I understand that the British Broadcasting Corporation have done their best to carry out this policy in an impartial manner since March, 1928.