FIRE-WATCHERS MEET

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 292, 8 September 1942, Page 4

FIRE-WATCHERS MEET

Express Discontent With Present System POSSIBILITY OF RAID DISCUSSED

The present system of fire-watching in Wellington was yesterday again condemned as no longer necessary by a meeting convened by. the Wellington fire-watching committee, to which was read a letter from the Minister of Civil Defence, Mr. Bodkin,' rejecting an alternative lirewatchlug scheme which had been proposed by the committee. A suggestion that fire-watchers should refuse duty if some alteration was not made within two weeks was ruled out by the chairman of the meeting, Mr. 11. H. Miller. This-was the second such meeting which has been held, and there were about 60 present. The committee’s suggested scheme was that every available man resident in a block should be a fire-watcher in that block. Other fire-watchers would be on an emergency’ call roster and would only be called out for duty in their own buildings during, a test or actual raid alarm. Till they got there the buildings would be under the surveillance of the block warden and the residents. An account was given of the deputation’s meeting with the Minister, and a second letter of reply from the Minister was read, dealing with points he had not covered in an earlier reply. The Minister stated that in certain areas of the four main centres, selected in view of their proximity’ to likely target zones, a fire-watching service was required which provided for adequate personnel to be available at all times in buildings within these area’s, so that outbreaks could be tackled in their incipient stages, and thus prevent major outbreaks. These decisions were based on the advice, of the Government’s expert advisers. The scheme proposed by the committee did not have personnel available immediately to tackle incendiaries. Those on the duty roster would be living at home and the lapse of time before they could report for duty would be far too considerable to provide a service even closely approaching the ( standard laid Minister further stated that all fire-watchers were required to be enrolled members of the E.P.S., and as such were fully covered as regards compensation for injury arising out of their duties. Also, the position of women who were left home at night when their husbands were on fire-watching duty, was fully appreciated, but such separation ot families was unfortunately absolutely unavoidable if the .fire-watching requirements were to be given, effect to. A resolution was then put before the meeting, and after some modifying amendments, was adopted in the following form; “That this meeting of representative citizens emphatically states that fire-watching in its present form is no longer necessary, and its continuance imposes an unnecessary social and economic ■burden on the community. Further, we are of the opinion that the proposals for a modified scheme as recently outlined by the Minister in charge of Civil Defence bv the Wellington Fire-watchers Committee are worthy of further consideration with a view to finding a satisfactory solution to the problem.”

Expert Opinion on Country’s Danger. Mr R. Holland moved the resolution. “Lieutenant-General Puttick has said that New Zealand is too remote from enemy land bases to be effectively bombed " he said. “Air Commodore Goddard has endorsed General Puttick’s. view. General Hurley has said the tide has ■turned in the Pacific. Mr. Fraser has said the position in the Pacific has improved. But from the Minister of Civil Defence we got an entirely different, picture which indicated that the position has deteriorated. Everything we read shows improvement in the Pacific. Eiuier Mr. Bodkin is right and the others are wrong, or vice versa.” Concluding, Mr. Holland said: “The only useful purpose we will serve from now on is to watch for fires for the insurance companies. Our legs are being pulled, and we are acting in an unofficial manner for these companies.” , , “We’ve put up with this caper for long enough, and if we stand it any longer we’re fools!” said Mr. Withers, seconding the motion. There were several speakers from the floor, who with varying degrees of pungency expressed their disapproval of the present fire-watching system. In ruling out a suggestion that fire-watchers should strike, the chairman said that permission to hold the meetings of fire-watchers had only been obtained after he had had a discussion with the Commissioner of Police. The police had stopped a similar meeting in Dunedin. There was a constitutional method of remedying wrongs, the chairman said, and it was not constitutional in wartime to refuse to obey the Emergency Regulations. However, time and time again they could go to the Government and say they thought the regulations were wrong. / Referring to the Minister’s . statement that personnel had to be available immediately, a speaker said he had been told at an E.P.S. meeting that there would be 48 hours’ notice of any attack on this country. It woujd be more diplomatic to go to the Minister with a new scheme than to tell him there was no risk, said Mr. J. M. A. Hott, who was followed by a speaker who said that if the last, earthquake had lasted ten seconds longer those who organized the present fire-watching system would have had hundreds of deaths oil their hands. The risk of an air raid on New Zealand was diminishing as each week went by, said another speaker. With the American marines in possession of the Solomons, and the loss of aircraft carriers and planes, it was virtually impossible for the Japanese to attack New Zealand. He was followed by Mr. E. P. Lambert, who said there was still the possibility of a tip and run raid. A Japanese submarine might pop up in the harbour and do some damage, or there might be planes from a carrier which had managed to get close in in bad weather, but these chances were too remote to warrant the present firewatching system. Winding up the discussion, Mr. Holland said the meeting was being asked whether Mr. Bodkin was right in saying they were going to be bombed, because in effect that was what he meant, or whether the Government’s advisers were right. He said the committee believed the Government advisers, ■ and thought that if the present system were continued firewatchers would be acting for the instirunce companies rather than anyone else.

The motion was put to the meeting, and adopted without a dissenting vote.