London, May 5.
The deplorable paucity of British films displayed in the Dominions and the Colonies, because of the Ameri-jean strangle-hold upon them, was stressed by Lord Danesfort in the House of Lords to-day.
Lord Danesfort urged that the Government place on the agenda of ithe Ottawa Conference the desirability of showing more British films throughout, the "Empire. He said that four-fifths of the firns shown in the United Kingdom were American, while only 5 per cent, of all the' films. shown in Australia and New Zealand" were British, In India andthe Crown Colonies British ims only averaged 1 per cent.
'American films. have. also' the monopoly in" Carada and South Lord Templemore in. reply on lvehalf_ of the British Government said that while he could not promise io" place the subject on agenda the" Ottawa Conference, they. were nevertheless s0 impressed with tha importance of securing an increasing market for British films, that steps! were now being taken to. secures Him quota legislation in the Indian colonies. Consideration will also be given a similar legt Lord Templemore sai Illustrating the steady progress lof the British film industry towards, overcoming American domination, Lord Templemore added that a quarter of the feature films now ing were British. He concluded that if the film trade could not force an. Jentry into the Dominion market itself, then it must be done wit the ce-operation of the Dominion Governments concerned.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.