BLACKOUT EXPERIMENTS IN N.Z.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLX, Issue 14654, 3 February 1941, Page 5

BLACKOUT EXPERIMENTS IN N.Z.

ELIMINATING BRILLIANT LIGHTS. Electric Telej?rapn—t**-ess Association WELLINGTON, February 2. Tile necessity for the controc of public and private lighting visible from the open sea was discussed by Rt. Hun. P. Fraser in an interview tonight He said the brilliant display of iights around parts of the New Zealand coast had been causing the Government some concern because ol the possibility of those lights being of use to enemy raiders. A certain r amount had already been done by way of shrouding and obscuring individual prominent lights in various parts oi the country, but it was ieit that a great deal more was necessary i‘ the work was to be really effective. Preparations had already been made for the immediate extinguishing of certain navigational lights in case of need and it had now boon 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 put out all those lights which whilst not directly visible from the sea produced a glare or reflection on cloud or sky. Mr Fraser said that to carry out these proposals the Government would appoint a controller and central technical committee in Wellington to correlate the work being done in different centres. To test the efficiency of the organisation existing at the present a trial reduction had been ai ranged at short notice foi last Saturday evening in Gisborne Napier. Wellington, Christchurch, including Lyttelton, and adjacent seaside boroughs. New Plymouth. Timaru. Oamaru, Dunedin. Greymouth, Hokitika and West port. In Auckland where practically the whole city was visible front the sea the problem was larger than m the other centres, but preparations for a trial were well in hand and it was hoped to carry this out at an early date. i)robablv next week-end. Mr F laser added that there was no occasion for alarm. The action taken was purely exploratory and precautionary. Regulations dealing with the matter would be put into operation nt an early date and if the requirements of these regulations necessitated some curtailment of lighting he felt sure the public would fully recognise the wisdom and necessity of the precautions taken and co-operate with the authorities to the fullest degree. NAPIER TRIES IT OUT. HASTINGS. February 2. An experimental blackout was put into operation at Napier on Satord;i v night. The street lights were < xtingiiished at 11 p.m. followed shortiv afterwards bv the advertising skv signs and bv midnight tho darkness except for occasional lighted shop fronts and the gleam of motor headlights along Marine Parade which in normal times is ablaze with coloured lights The intense darkness made it difficult for the few pedestrians to keep to the footpaths. The t xperiment was a success hut showed that if if ever recessarv to enforce an official blackout New Zealand towns, like those in Britain, will find the principal difficulty in •securing the effective screening of lights ii« windows, doorways and Private houses.