COASTAL TOWNS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 28, 3 February 1941, Page 9

COASTAL TOWNS

DISPLAY OF LIGHTS

BLACK-OUT POSSIBLE

A TRIAL MADE

Commenting on the concern felt by the Government at the displays of light visible in coastal towns and other places in sight of the sea, the Prime Minister (Mr. Fraser) last night emphasised the necessity for some control of public and private lighting. He said that regulations would be brought into operation shortly so that if the occasion arose there could be curtailment of lighting. Mr. Fraser said that the brilliant display of lights around parts of the New Zealand coast had been causing the Government some concern because of the possibility of these lights being of use to enemy raiders. The question was discussed in Wellington recently at a meeting of local body representatives called by the Associate' Minister of National Service (Mr. Wilson) in connection with various aspects.of emergency precautions. It was revealed by the Prime Minister that to test the efficiency of the existing organisation a trial reduction of lighting was arranged on Saturday night in several places, including Wellington. Mr. Fraser said a certain . amount had already been done by way of shrouding and obscuring individual prominent lights in various parts of the country, but it was felt that a great deal more was necessary if the work was to be really effective. Preparati ns had already been made "for the immediate, extinguishing of certain navigation lights in case of need, and it had now tieen decided that it might be necessary to put out or at least obscure all lights which were directly visible from the open sea, and also to put out all those lights which, while nqt directly visible from the sea, produced glare or reflection on the clouds or sky, and which might thereby indicate the whereabouts of centres of population. Mr. Fraser explained that to carry out these - proposals the Government would appoint a controller and a central technical committee in Wellington to correlate work being done in different centres. As explained recently to local body representatives iri Wellington, the work in different centres would be carried out by an appropriate section of the emergency precautions organisation, which was already estab : lished in most of the areas concerned, that is, in the principal coastal towns of the Dominion. TRIAL REDUCTION. The Prime Minister said that to test and try out the efficiency of the present organisation a trial reduction had been arranged at short notice for last Saturday night in the following localities: Gisborne, Napier, Wellington, Christchurch (including Lyttelton and adjacent seaside boroughs), New Plymouth, Timaru, Oamaru, Dunedin, Greymouth, Hokitika, and Westport. In this trial, which was continued for some. hours in the different localities, observations were made to test the efficiency and to observe any defect in the scheme. In Auckland, where practically the whole city was visibje from the sea, the problem was larger than in the other centres, but preparations for a trial were well in hand, and it was hoped to carry this out at an early date, probably next weekend. From the reports that he had received of the test, said the Prime Minister, it was clear, that a very fine organisation existed in the electric supply and other local authorities, arid that all public lighting could be treated rapidly and effectively. It showed, . however, that apart from public lighting, there was a considerable amount of private lighting from house windows and a good deal of other special lighting that would have to be controlled before the scheme could be considered completely effective. Mr. Fraser said that there was no occasion for alarm—the action taken was purely exploratory and precautionary. He wished the people to realise, however, that we were in a state of war, and that as long as there were enemy raiders at large there was always a chance that they might make a sudden raid on the New Zealand coast. He felt, therefore, that we should do everything possible to make it difficult for any such craft to identify points on our coastline. Mr. Fraser said that regulations dealing with the matter would be put into operation at an early date, and if the requirements of these regulations necessitated some curtailment of the advantages of adequate lighting*which the public had come to expect and to : enjoy, he felt sure that they would fully recognise the wisdom and neces- . sity of the precautions taken and would co-operate with the authorities to the fullest degree. .