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The Economic Information Service was granted time on the air for the announcement of ceiling prices and discussions on consumers' war and post-war problems. In collaboration with the Rehabilitation Department, publicity was again given to the assistance available to returned servicemen. Appeals for missing persons, cars, and motor-cycles were broadcast .at the request of the Police Department. As soon as censorship regulations permitted, national and local weather reports were resumed over the National and Commercial networks, and the pre-war practice of broadcasting road, beach, and navigation warnings was re-instituted. Fire safety announcements were broadcast for the Forestry Department. On the arrival of troopships at New Zealand ports, broadcasts of disembarkation and troop-train time-tables were made for the Army Department. This service considerably facilitated transport and reception arrangements at the various centres. The R.N.Z.A.F. broadcasts from Singapore giving news of released prisoners-of-war were recorded and rebroadcast, and transcriptions were supplied to the Army and Air Departments. Publicity for the Health Department's Mobile Units in the South Island was provided by the stations at Christchurch, Dunedin, and Invercargill. Progress and final results of the Hamilton, Dunedin North, and Raglan by-elections were broadcast. Recordings.—Though the position improved considerably, lack of material and equipment still made it necessary to confine recording work mostly to news and commentaries, special programmes, and events of national importance. Many of these will be of great historic and programme value in the future. For recording purposes the Service requires large quantities of blank •disks, and this was particularly so during the war. The disks consist of an aluminium base coated with a special solution, on which the record is cut. All available aluminium was required for war purposes and was consequently not available for the manufacture' of disks., At one stage the position was so acute that before the Service could import disks it was necessary to supply the manufacturers with a corresponding number of used records so that the aluminium base could be recoated and used again. Despite these difficulties, it was possible, by limiting recording to most •essiential purposes, to maintain the recording of important news and commentaries and messages from our Forces. The " New Zealand Listener—The New Zealand Listener had another successful year and maintained its position as one of the most widely read journals in the Dominion. Although the paper position was never good enough to justify a campaign to boost the circulation, the number of readers grew steadily, and the advertising revenue was higher than it has ever been. One of the problems created by the paper shortage has been the restriction of the space devoted to programmes, and that continued throughout the year. Steps were taken as the year closed to overcome this weakness. In addition, the staff has been strengthened by the return of men from war service. The journal continued to form a valuable link between license-holders and the Service and featured supplementary information, which has contributed to the success of broadcast programmes. At the request of the Information Section of the Prime Minister's Department the Editor of the Listener visited Japan to report on the

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