RAID PRECAUTIONS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 June 1940, Page 8

RAID PRECAUTIONS

SCHEME IN SYDNEY. RECENT BLACK-OUT TEST. Plans for a total black-out of Sydney and an area within a 50-mile radius of the General Post Office have been completed by the National Emergency Services. One man, operating a master switch, could do the job in less than a second. A single movement of a single switch is all that is necessary. Tests carried out recently, while Sydney slept, proved satisfactory. The National Emergency Services organisation has also completed plans for shallow trenches in open spaces in the city, such as parks, where people can go to avoid shell splinters, and to minimise the concussion of bomb blasts, should an emergency arise. Throughout the State 80,000 people have now been trained in one or more of the national emergency courses, while in the metropolitan area 20,000 men and women have been trained and allocated to positions. In addition, aS many more have received training in air raid precautions work and first-aid, or both. Plans have also been completed for the evacuation of the civil population of Sydney.

The Minister in Charge of Emergency Services, Mr Bruxner, emphasised that the plans were merely precautionary. “Volunteers are still needed in some municipalities from men who are above military age, and are prepared to act as wardens and perform first-aid work,” he said. “Considerable difficulty had been experienced in finding a satisfactory air raid siren alarms system for the city, but engineers were confident that soon they would solve the problem.”