TRIAL BLACK-OUT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20492, 28 February 1941, Page 9

TRIAL BLACK-OUT

DOMINION PROPOSALS GISBORNE EXPERIMENTS CAR AND HOUSE LIGHTS REDUCTION OF SKY-GLOW Results gained from experiments conducted in Gisborne three weeks ago are being applied in connection with the Government’s proposals for reducing public and industrial lighting in towns on the New Zealand coast. The Poverty Bay Electric-Power Board is pi'cceeding with plans for shrouding street-lights in the borough of Gisborne, and for eliminating such lights as cannot be successfully shrouded.

The purpose of the immediate action is to reduce direct light and sky-glow over the town, which might otherwise give to an approaching vessel a clear indication of the locality. All lights which are normally visible from the sea must be screened, and this order will apply eventually to lights in private homes and industrial plants. Public lighting is the first objective of the trials now being conducted, however. Shrouding: Seaward Lights The New Zealand controller of lighting has delegated powers in respect of the Gisborne district to Mr. F. R. Ball, who becomes local controller, and who is forming a committee to cooperate with the emergency precautions organisation iri the town. The scheme envisages the appointment of wardens to keep public attention focussed upon the necessity for reducing lighting which may show seawards, or which by throwing a glow against the sky will serve an enemy vessel in the same way. Householders must be prepared to take action in the case of windows which show lights seaward, but the committee is not likely to act in the domestic sphere at once. Blinds which completely cover windows, or' smaller blinds reinforced by a system of painting the outside edges of panes of glass, to prevent leakage of light, ai'e among the precautions to be followed eventually.

i Control of car and motor-vehicle lights presents a difficult piroblem, concerning which the New Zealand controller has not yet issued instructions. It is obvious that the lights of moving vehicles may be a source of potential danger in an emergency, and that some measure to reduce the power of such lights is imperative if a blackout is to be effective.