INTERESTING PAPER.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1490, 12 July 1912, Page 6

INTERESTING PAPER.

ON FIRE WASTE, READ TO INSURANCE MEN. At a well-nttendcd meeting of the Insurance Institute, held in tho rooms of tho Fire Underwriters' Association on Tuesday evening, Mr. F. G. Cray read an interesting paper en "Fire Wasto and its Prevention." In tho course of the paper, Mr. Cray eaid:— "It is sober fact that tho loss by firo in this Dominion is greater per head of the population than in any other part of tho world. There aro those who will combat tin's statement by saying that in this country there is such a largo proportion of wooden structures, and our handful of population is so small that wo cannot hope to find our position improve in this respect. To sny that the fire wnste of New Zealand is equivalent to, say, 10s. per head of the population (as a matter of fact it is more) does not perhaps appeal in any special manner to a large percentage of our colonists, and it is necessary, therefore, to furnish figures, not only of our Dominion fire waste, but also of older and larger countries, in order to bring clearly before us what is being lost year by year. We must bear in mind that in England, the Continent, and in America, all of the best-known fire fighting appliances are brought into use, and still we aro shocked from time to time with reports of tremendous conflagrations, thus showing that if this young country is to grow and prosper, anu to avoid the great national waste by fire, something must be doi.e by adopting measure's that will-prevent, rather than by expending largo sums of money in attempting to fight .our fires. Let us estimate the population of New Zealand at, say, 1,000,000. It will be seen that, our annual fire waste at evpn 10s. per head is .£500,000. This sum is sufficient to pay interest on 12| millions at 4 per cent. Now, if a loan of 121- millions were spent in developing our land, ' this country would be fitted for many more thousands of population; and enormousadvances would be made by-pay-merit of ,£500,000 per annum in interest. What do we receive for tho £500,000 which is annually expended in fire waste? Absolutely nothing. The individual (except in perhaps a few isolated cases) is the poorer, the nation is the poorer, industries and commerce aro crippled an.l hampered, and yet we are doing practically nothing by way of prevention. ' "Fire waste emanates from two distinct sources. First, the physical qualities of property itself; second, the-moral hazard existing in tho owner ot others. This may range from a mere ignorance or indifference to care of the property, or to an active desire to realise from its sale to an insurance company; or it may exist in the enmity of neighbours, rivals, employees, etc. This moral hazard has never been measured. "The public should be brought to understand that property destroyed by, fire is gone for ever, and is not replaced by the distribution of insurance, which is a tax collected for the purpose. "A building code should be adopted which will impose a high type of safe construction. I havo in my possession such a code,. which is practically unknown in New Zealand. "By-laws should bo adopted.which will control the use and keeping of inflammable commodities and other special hazards, the storing of refuse, waste packing material, etc., not only in yards or areas, but also inside the buildings, and we should undertake the enforcement of such by-laws. "Regulations are necessary to provide that nil buildings where people congregate, such as schools, factories, theatres, hotels, large emporiums, etc., .should be so constructed that .the lives of the people may safeguarded, and that automatic fire extinguishing appliances should be introduced in all larije commercial establishments nnd city blocks." Mr. F. G. Cray was given a hearty vote of thanks for his address.