MORE BLACK-OUT TRIALS

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23513, 16 December 1941, Page 8

MORE BLACK-OUT TRIALS

* ANNOUNCEMENT BY CONTROLLER SHORTCOMINGS OF FIRST REHEARSAL Christchurch will have more trial black-outs, but whether there will be another before Christmas has not yet been decided. This was announced yesterday by the District Lighting Controller, Mr E. Hitchcock. The rehearsal on Sunday night he described as satisfactory up to a point, although it was obvious that many premises were unprepared to meet the test. The occupiers in some cases had got over the difficulty by switching off all their lights; others had offended against the regulations and would be taken to task officially. Mr Hitchcock said it was regrettable that so many citizens were too apathetic to make those preparations which the authorities regarded as essential for the safety of the community. The preparations would have to be made sooner or later. Why leave them until they were a dire necessity? The black-out trials, it was emphasised, gave citizens the opportunity of ensuring in advance that should “the real thing" be forced on the community they could carry on their normal activities without offending against the regulations or endangering the city by showing lights that might be a guide to the enemy. Should there be a real emergency, of course, any such dereliction of duty would be regarded with the utmost seriousness. Mr Hitchcock said it was apparent that although the big siren on the Municipal Electricity Department s building was supplemented by 11 others in different parts of the city, the sound was not sufficiently well distributed to ensure that in all parts of the city persons indoors would hear the warning signals. This was particularly the case where persons were indoors listening to the radio- The Christchurch commercial station gave notification of the black-out, even broadcasting the sound of the siren, and the national station gave an announcement just before 9 o'clock. Those who tuned in just after 9 o’clock or w'ho were listening to distant stations, would not hear any reminder of the trial and might not be able to hear the siren. This difficulty will be got over by constructing as many more sirens as are necessary to ensure coverage of the area affected. Mr Hitchcock deprecated the tendency of some people to treat the trial as a joke. There had been persons—mostly young larrikins— showing torches and lights on the streets. There had also been a little difficulty with motorists w'ho wanted to proceed either with their lights on or without lights. They were stopped by wardens in both cases, . , . Many persons had pointed out tha, railway signal lights had been left on during the black-out. said Mr Hitchcock. It was impossible to extinguish these lights, and they were unlikely, in any case, to be readily visible from the air as they were fitted with overhead screens and were strongly directional.