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Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 203, 25 May 1936, Page 5

The fact that the Devouport and Takapuna boroughs (Auckland) have decided to install sodium lights for the lighting of their principal roads is proof that these vapour electric lights are coming into their own in this country Sodium vapour lamps were tried out in Harris Street, Wellington, about three years ago. before the old electric light offices were demolished. This vapour light'does not indulge in halttones. In its powerful glare objects are either black or white. The roadway is. of course, white, but people’s faces appear black In sodium vapour rays. They have boon used on the stage for illusory effects in ballets, when the girls are pure blondes one minute aud negresses the next, merely by a change of light to sodium lamps. So far as is known out here, it has been possible to inject rr-d rays in the electrified mercury vapour, but it reduces their lighting capacity by 25 per cent. Neon is another form of gas electric light. That form of gas can be made in many colours, but as a lighting medium for streets coloured lights of any kind are not equal to white lights. That is why research work is being done at Home to discover, if possible, some method of tinting the mercury vapour light without impairing its efficiency as a street illumtnant.