SgtBundy, wonderful what one forgets after 45 years. Ferreted around last night and found some old 172 and 28-235 notes and you are quite correct. No switch for generator, but you still had an ammeter and/or an under voltage light. One shouldn't have to wait until the battery is cactus to find the generator is not doing its job.
An aviation safety magazine will be ineffective if it prints nonsense, because it will not be respected by pilots.
bushy, what you say is correct in its context, but in this case it seems this article is a reflection (poor) on the pilot? who wrote it. Pity CASA did not give some commentary at the end of the article, as they often do. Perhaps in a perverse way they were letting the community know what is to be found out there.