SUNSET TONIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 122, 26 May 1941, Page 8

SUNSET TONIGHT

LIGHT RESTRICTIONS

STREETS AND SHOP WINDOWS

ALL MUST COMPLY

The Lighting Restrictions Regulations issued last week become effective tonight as from sunset. They affect the street lighting of the city and the lighting of shop windows.

The City Council has already erected nearly 1000 new screens on its street lamps, and other work is proceeding quickly. In districts not visible from the sea, a half-can is being used instead of the full can. The latter has only a small opening in the base, and the light itself is baffled, whereas the half-can is half the length, and will give a much greater quantity of light. The object of these street lighting screens is to prevent light from going directly upwards, and there is already an appreciable difference in the Seatoun, Miramar, Kilbirnie, Lyall Bay, and Hataitai areas.

The new regulations, as they affect shop windows, are to be applicable all over the Dominion; in fact, a Dominion standard has been evolved. This is stated in foot-candle illuminations and is a measure of the amount of light permitted to fall on a test point six feet from the shop window or building line frontage. The permissible intensity is one tenth of a foot-candle. This is not readily understandable' by lay people, and may be translated into terms of watts per foot-run of window frontage. PRACTICAL CALCULATIONS. For all practical purposes five watts may be allowed for every lineal foot of window frontage. The shopkeeper may therefore determine for himself just how much light he is permitted. If he measures hi» frontage, including any windows in the porch of entrance, thus determining his lineal feet, and' then multiplies this figure by five, he

will find how many watts he is allowed altogether. Thus, if the total frontage is 20ft, he may use 100 watts in all. He may not use any lamp of a larger wattage than 60. The next thing to bear in mind is that the light source must be mounted behind some opaque pelmet, or shield, so that it cannot be seen from any position in the street. The pelmet may be of paper, paint, or other substance, but it must not permit the passage of light. Another point to remember is that direct light from the source must be confined to the interior of the window. SHOP INTERIORS. There remains the big problem of illumination from inside. If light is intense in a shop, there may be sufficient coming out through the entrance to exceed what is permitted on the footpath. In such cases steps must be taken to screen, reduce, or baffle the light in the shop itself. The regulations also state that lights in porches and entrances and under verandahs must be discontinued or switched off at sunset. The intensity of any such sign or light does not matter. If it is a sign or a lamp, or any source of light under a verandah, or in a porch or entrance where it can shine on to the footpath or street, it must be turned off at sunset. It is pointed out by the Local Controller that sunset is not when a man stouts his shop, or thinks it is dark enough, or any such mutable time. Sunset is when the sun sets, and during the last week many owners of signs had them disconnected because they have been found burning between 5.30 p.m. and 6 p.m. The regulations are being enforced in successive stages. Next to be penalised if the regulations are broken will be the large office buildings, and, following them, dwellings. Those who commence to darken their windows now will be in readiness when the regulations come into effect. In the meantime all are asked to pull their blinds down at sunset.