SECOND BLACK-OUT

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 147, 18 December 1941, Page 11

SECOND BLACK-OUT

OUTER SIRENS WEAK

People living in the county areas, .beyond possible reach of siren warnings, but knowing that a semi-surprise alarm was to be given, naturally relied upon their radios, but to their astonishment the broadcasting stations took no part and as a" consequence the exercise was for such people quite a farce. .The failure of the stations to co-operate an carrying the warning to the greatest possible number of people.. was the ] more surprising, as the directions to! all householders issued some time ago by the National Service Department emphasised the part that radio would take. Another weakness of the test last night was the incompleteness of the area over which the black-out was supposed to be observed, for only a small part" of the Hutt County was in it. The plain need is for a common plan to cover the full Wellington city, county, borough, and county stretch of country from Cook Strait to at least Paekakariki on one side and Kaitoke on the other. IN THE CITY. The city observance was really good, and the turn-out of E.P.S. and firefighting personnel was also good, though not nearly as full as was asked by the Mayor. The detailed reports, when analysed, will give a fair idea of the time needed to mobilise the organisations, though many beat the pistol and waited near their assembly posts for as much as half an hour before the sirens went. On .the other hand, many other members with duties in the city turned up late in the test, being unable, although cars with reduced headlighting were permitted, to make the journey in less than 15 to 20 minutes. Some walked in from the outer suburbs and did not arrive until the trial was over. . Experience in tests is the best guide to necessary rearrangement. The headquarters staff turned out in practically full strength in the basements of the Town Hall and functioned well. The communication systems worked without congestion, but the numbers of messages inwards and outwards \vas not great, as the majority of E.P.S. sections merely mobilised and did not go into active exercise, as did the iire sections. - -A marked feature was the observance by the public of the direction that they should keep off the streets. Only a few hundred people walked the streets out of curiosity—and they saw mighty little except darkness. There was still too much match lighting and smoking. Many householders offended unthinkingly by switching on lights as they moved from room to room. The wardens and patrols did excellent work in calling notice to lightproofing that was not good enough; they met with no opposition or querulous disputing from those they approached. Traffic offences were few, but many of the temporary masks were not well adjusted and gave too much light The general public in the Johnsonville district are becoming conscious of their responsibilities in the matter of blacking-out the area, according to wardens who patrolled the streets there last night. There were one or two slight unintentional breaches but these were quickly rectified when the attention of householders was drawn to them. Broadly speaking the blackout was very satisfactory.

The second full-scale black-out trial in the Wellington metropolitan area, Upper Hutt, and the Makara County last night was a great improvement on the first test in every way in. Wellington City and suburbs, but was weak in parts of the Hutt Valley, where the siren warning system proved quite inadequate—so much so that many people knew nothing of the commencement, of the test until they were knocked up and told about it. It is evident that the Valley warning- system must be very greatly strengthened if it is to be of any avail in signalling a real emergency. Most people thought the trial period far too short. The failure of the broadcasting stations to take any part in. the trial caused surprise.

in every building could do a lot to prevent those fires from starting.