THE BLACKOUT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 87, 14 April 1941, Page 6

THE BLACKOUT.

(To the Editor.)

T was Home .for .")i v ears -_j . fully qualified senior London air ®id warden. I volunteered in 19.1S and .how,. a„d taught others to •assemble e as mask*, working sometimes 16 hour* a day to supply the waiting hum*. during the Munich appeasement. wards 1 continued training, passed examination, and in January 1930 presented with my badge. Still'continuing my training I went through r , • ~ a \ a,l d incendiary bomb trials The New Zealanders do not understand >peed. A lone plane could set Auckland ablaze and leave manv hus* craters, flying o ff }>oforc ( ,od l,les f, them) could take off the giound. V\ hen the people have tins speed as I have-*,. singk: {J* gives a due: on the deck of a .hip-} th a n t a i v,t *5 a ( ' i?arette is struck, that light can be seen three miles a*av The moon certainly shows up P but not so much as a lighted window* I think there should be a real MaA* out—the sooner the better. I an Anderson shelter during a raid over London the nigln before I left. Jf one has seen, as I have, 30 or 40 dUbm going out to meet the enemy and hIS the air raid experience I have had. tW would understand blackout. I k.j hoped to stay Home for the duratinn but the Fir;' ncial DopartmeJt fe thought otherwise. MRS. X. GRAY.

Re E. P. Kitclungnian and liis letter regarding the blackout, as the warden particularly concerned with the distort in which he lives, may I be permitted to make a few observations? I siimit hat h.s letter , s in the worst posdbte j" ' and , , hls reflections upon men "ho are doing their duty as they se« it. at n« little inconvenience are be neatli contcmpt. While E. P. Kitchins man is not taken at all seriously br Jw® X ",° W hini beit ' 5t is PO««ible that the wider circle of your readers may l>c inclined to give some credence to what is nothing more or less than the vapid outpourings of a svnthetie A. P. Herbert. Your readers may remember his rushing into print sonic month* ago in dcfence of Lake Pupuke and all its waterworks, in which he asserted that the water in colour, content and smell was all th.-v. • ->ld be desired. This can guide us , ; ,t in arriving at his '"intelligence rating."' Quite frankly. I am more prepared to take the considered views of our defence chiefs, such as Commander Parrv, of Achilles fame, that such precautions are necessary, rather than those of an armchair penny novel strategist such as E. P. Kitchingman. Maybe, because I and most members of our teams experienced the horrors of bombing and exploding high explosive sheik and saw our pals "go west" beside us in the last war. makes us rather keen to take til possibc precautions against any possibility of such happenings here. W« have tried to encourage householders to carry out tlic regulations, and Mr w-armcst thanks are due for their Munificent co-operation. We inept Commander Parry's opinion, backed incidentally by an Auctralian defencci chief quoted by 2FC, •Sydney, that we in Australia and New Zealand are in a potential danger area, and that these blackout precautions are necessary. We feel sure that Mr. Kitchingnian's objections are motivated more by lethargy than sfllmd thinking, but. none the tees, he vin have to get into line. WILLIAM G. LLOYD. Warden, Devonport.