THE DARKENING OF LONDON

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2722, 17 March 1916, Page 6

THE DARKENING OF LONDON

MORE COSTLY THAN ZEPPELIN RAIDS. .. The last issue of "The Aeroplane" lins an interesting article on what it describes as the futile policy of tho darkening of tho metropolis. "Up with tho lights of London!" remarks the writer, means more to England in other ways than people think. "It means inoroasing facilities for transit decreasing prices of food and other things. Tho railways arc overburdened with traffic as it is, and prices keep on going nip owing to scarcity of goods, duo to lack of transport. Yet tliis enforced darkness' prevents road-borne motor traffic from relieving the railways. Tens of thousands of motor-wagons, which should bo miming night and day, carrying raw material for armament, finished sliellß, guns, Bmall-arm ammunition, food for troops, aircraft parts, petrol, oil, and so forth, not to mention foodstuffs for tlto civilian population and ordinary manufactured goods from manufacturer to consumer, are only able to run during the short winter days. Tho few which venturo to run after dark liavo to grope their way blindly niong by tho absurdly inadequate lights now allowed, continually falling into ditches, colliding with obstructions and being laid up for repair, and generally wrecking their drivers' norvos with tlto strain of it, so that drivers are scarce. There is 110 need to point out how the dnrkness Ims held ur> Ttonrton passenger traffic, apart Trom the industrial traffic indicated above. Tf one could get at the figuves, it would he found that darkness caused hy sheer funk of Zeppelin raids has cost more to. this country 111 holding up traffic than would pay for the damage halt a down raids could do, liesides, the wholesale darkening of London is , , , utterly futile. One cannot hide London, unless one can hide the river and all tlw railways. And they eiui he hidden by dawslmg the invader, lliirkuess oil the ground makes everything visible from above."