SOME SIDELIGHTS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 57, 9 March 1942, Page 6

SOME SIDELIGHTS

JURYMEN DISPERSE

FIRE SPOTTERS "SIT EASY"

Coming, as it did, shortly before 10 o'clock, the alert upset the Supreme Court plans for the day. Assembled at the court to be sworn in at the hour for duty on cases set down for the week, thirty or more citizens summoned for jury work were widely dispersed by the air raid signal, the great majority of them hastening to a nearby transport station for a quick journey back to E.P.S. work in their home districts, while the others fluttered across the street to a handy shelter area, from which they could view the general dispersal and the bombing and defensive manoeuvres. Before the exodus from the court, however, the message went round that jurymen would be expected to j assemble again in the afternoon.

The Auckland Transport Board was holding a meeting when the alarm sounded, and at the time was hearing views being put forward by a deputation. Several of the board's officials had to leave at once to take up other duties. The meeting was then continued until the order paper was completed.

Fire spotters were on duty in most of the main public buildings, and while their duties were not onerous they contrived to make themselves comfortable. One young member of the keen-eyed squad noticed rushing down one of the main thoroughfares armed with a cushion of roomy dimensions was later discovered to be atop the parapet of a high building, surveying in comfort the panorama beneath him.

Fire watchers in one area, if they were particularly watchful, would have seen an unscheduled fire. An alarm was not necessary, however, as it was in the pipe of an auxiliary fireman who lighted it at the run down the street and puffed at it furiously as he dashed back again a moment later.

Court as Clearing Post

During the period of the test alarm to-day there was no sitting of the Magistrate's or Police Courts, as a large number of those engaged in the various matters coming before the Courts were engaged on E.P.S. duties in the city and suburbs.

The Magistrate's Court building was used, as it would be in the case of a real raid, as a first aid clearing post. A full staff of medical, Red Cross and ambulance workers remained at their posts throughout the whole period ot the alarm. When the sirens sounded the building was cleared of all persons excepting those who were on duty. Within a few minutes of the "all clear" being given, sufficient persons were present to enable both Courts to start with the hearing of cases. Touch of Realism An unexpected touch of realism was added to the air raid drill in one part of the city when one of the bombers was making a low-flying dash along the line of one of the streets. Observers sitting outside the trenches in a shelter area adjacent to the street started a discussion about whether or not they would be safe in those shelters in the event of the questing plane opening up a burst of machine-gun tire, when they were startled by the sound of a sharp rat-tat-tat that synchronised with the approach of the bomber. There was a general involuntary jerk among the observers, and a hasty look at the trenches beside them, before they realised from continuance of the sound that it came from a pneumatic drill at work just out of sight 50 or 60 yards away. Awkward Moments Not eyeryone was prepared for eventualities when the alarm came. A bathing party at Takapuna was in the water at the time, and was ca i. out by E.P.S. officials, and rushed to a trench, where the members remained in their bathing suits for an hour and a quarter. In a seaside suburb an old gentleman was in his bath at the sounding of the alert, but he decided to play the game, and he prolonged his morning tub until the "all clear" sounded—it was not a cold bath to begin with. Points of Criticism In most sections of the metropolitan area the sirens were heard plainly enough at the beginning and end of the emergency period, but in some streets, notably Victoria Avenue, Remuera, the signals could be heard only faintly, if at all. E.P.S. personnel in this part of Remuera complained that the warning was most difficult to hear, although the "all clear" was distinct enough. In Upland Road and in the Meadowbank area the signals were clearly heard. It was reported that the warning was not distinct at Parnell and in the back portions of Epsom.

While the greater number of the transport assembly stations seemed to have worked satisfactorily, there was some delay in dispersal of the suburban workers who went to the Wyndham Street station. One first aid worker from Royal Oak area stated that though she got quickly from her work in town to Wyndham Street she was unable to get transport till she had waited nearly half an hour, and there were many others in similar plight at the same spot.