RAID SHELTERS

Southland Times, Issue 24822, 14 August 1942, Page 4

RAID SHELTERS

INSPECTION BY CITY COUNCILLORS

Members of the City Council yesterday morning inspected the three air raid shelters under construction in the city. Councillors approved of the type of shelter that has been erected on the reserve in Gala street and also the shelter under constx-uction at the corner of Esk and Kelvin streets. It was decided that the question of the basement shelter under business premises in Dee street should be discussed at the meeting of the council next week, and that in the meantime any street work or work above ground at this shelter should cease. The central committee of the Invercargill E.P.S. has decided to write to Wellington for the latest advice on the best type of shelter for Invercargill conditions. The three shelters now under construction in the city are in accordance with plans drawn by the city engineer and approved by the Public Works Department, but they were ordered to be built by the council merely as an experiment. There is, for one thing, a difference of opinion among councillors on the best sites for the shelters. Some think that they should be in the buiness area, wihle others are of the opinion that they should be in the reserves handy to the business centre. The latter maintain that enemy raiders are most likely to attack the business area and that, therefore, it will be better to evacuate people from this area. On the other hand those who maintain that the shelters should be in the business area, point out that there is no absolute certainty that there will be any warning of a raid, and that, therefore, there may be no time for people to get to shelters in the reserves.

Another point is that the creation of the Ministry of Civil Defence has meant a change in the central control of Emergency Precautions Services. When he visited Invercargill recently the Hon. W. A. Bodkin, Minister of Cicil Defence, was accompanied by Mr C. W. Hamann, deputy chief engineer to the Ministry of Home Securtiy, London, who is on loan to the New Zealand Government for the purpose of advising it on matters pertaining to civil defence. Mr Hamann inspected the shelters under construction in the city and, it is presumed, arrived at a conclusion on the most suitable type of shelter and the best locations for them to meet Invercargill conditions.