IN THE PILLORY

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22389, 30 April 1938, Page 14

IN THE PILLORY

Street Lighting Is a Burning Question [By COMMENTATOR] In some towns in New Zealand suburban street lights are turned out .at a certain hour each night, or early each morning. Those who keep later hours than that go home in the dark or carry their own torches. Christchurch can thank its civic pride that it is not like that. But its civic pride in its lighting system probably stops there. On murky, wintry nights many of our'suburban streets are traps for travellers who do not know them. The lights are far apart, and when you do get to them they are at such a height that the assistance they give in finding house numbers can be measured microscopically if at all. Efficient street lighting is a problem to which much time is given now by civic authorities all over the world; in Christchurch the problem of improving the present system should at least be made easier by the cheapness—one of the city's boasts—of its electricity. But the same old system still applies, pedestrians in the suburbs still walk through puddles which they cannot see, still sometimes'trip over gutter's, the height of which they are not sure of, and still waste matches trying to decipher the number of a wanted house. Many motorists, too, have their own views about street lighting in some of the main streets, and city councillors would not like to hear them. Driving down Papanui road, one of the city's busiest streets, is certainly made no better on a wet night like last night, by the position of the street lights. In the middle of the road, they fail entirely to light the sides, and make it harder still to see the cyclist whose red reflector is obscured by his overcoat. On top of that their glistening reflection on the road makes a car's own headlights of doubtful value. A few years ago a special system of lighting, using a new type of lamp, was tried out in Riccarton avenue, bisecting North and South Hagley Parks. It has been a success, but little is heard of any plan to fit other main highways on the city's outskirts with a similar installation. Such a system would be especially good in some of the- city's avenues, where trees, as things are now, badly interfere with lighting. In fact, the city is still in the dark ages of its lighting history.