COUNCIL WORRY OVER RECENT TOWN BURGLARIES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 95, 15 September 1948, Page 5

COUNCIL WORRY OVER RECENT TOWN BURGLARIES

Better Lighting May Be Deterrent A discussion that started with lighting: and power led the Whakatane Borough Council to express its concern about the recent burglaries and to consider better lighting as a possible hindrance to further attempts. Community - lighting has again been put into service in Whakatane, and the fact occasioned some discussion at the Council’s meeting on Monday night, when Cr C. S. Armstrong wanted to know if it would not have been possible to use that power for domestic purposes. It was explained by the Mayor, Mr B. S. Barry, that community lighting was a more or less seasonal thing, and the sort of load that could be cut off at will. . Mr F. W. Lysaght, electrical engineer, agreed that was so. He said the restoration of community lighting was an attempt to give the shopkeepers a little help, particularly in yiew of the fact that it might act as a deterrent to further burglaries. Certainly, it would not be using powpr that could be used for constant domestic installations. He did not know how it was going to be possible to supply new houses unless the Public Works Department could be persuaded to increase the town’s quota. It was impossible to keep within it now. Cr H. G. Warren pointed out that some of the older ratepayers felt ill-used when they could not get the same facilities as newcomers, who were building all-electric houses. Naturally, the Council realised that was unfortunate, but irremediable at the moment. Concerning the burglaries, all Councillors expressed concern at the repeated raids, also at other reprehensible conduct in the town, and agreed to take what steps they could, including the probable placing of lights on the river road at the back of the Strand.