FIRE COMMISSION

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1835, 16 August 1906, Page 3

FIRE COMMISSION

TRESS ASSOCIATION Wellington, yesterday. At the wool and flax Commission this morning, G. H. Scales stated he had been a ship charterer for ten years. He considered wool, flax, and tow were liable to spontaneous combustion. The main cause was dampness. With the exception of the ship Pitcairn Island, it would be found that the fires this season occurred oil vessels sailing after March, so that it could not be said that the hurrying forward of the wool clip was the cause. Wellington, last night.

Before the Wco! Commissioners, Professor McLiurin, of Victoriu College, said be considered that the cause of these fires wa? duo (1) to oxidisation caused by the aotion of oxygen a'oDe, as with the oase of wool and oil —a good many oils oxidised very rapidly, linseed being the rxtrt me; and (2) heatiDg by tbe action of bacteria, though this, of course, would only be the initial aotion in the case of woo! containing direct animal matter, and which harbor baoteria. Those under favorable conditions would aet up a certain amount of fermentation, which might grow to a sufficient extent to cause combustion.

Me Foster: Would the presence of moisture add to the risk ? Witness : Id the case of wool it undoubtedly would. Mr Foster : Perhaps you could get together information for us following the wool from the packiog at the station to the Harbor Board shed*, the method of dealiDg with it in the sheds, and plaoing it in the bold, and goirg into the question generally, so that wo may have more material to go on, Witness : I will be very willing to do so. Mr Foetor: Do you think that damp flax not containing any oil would cause fire ? Witness : I think it might.

Cbp'ain David, of the Corinlhio, said that judging from the period which seeand to havo elapsed hetwem ships leaving New Zealand and the outbreak of the fires, it appears to have bsf-n due to an unusual cause—souuthing that had net occurred in She usual run of steamers that bad been in tbo trade for some boved or eight years, and he had no recollection of a previous epidemic. Tbo roasonabla deduction from experienca would be that in that particular instance the fire was due to tome abnormal circumstance, either in the wool itself or in the packing in the ccloDy.