The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1929. FIRE LOSSES.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 September 1929, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1929. FIRE LOSSES.

Attention has on many, occasions been drawn-to t)ie unenviable position which New Zealand; occupies am mg the countries of the world* in respect of its fire losses. The address delivered last week at Dunedin by Mr Hugo, Chief Inspector of 'Fire Brigades in the Dominion, adds, says the Otago Times, but another to the weighty pronouncements which he has made from time to time on this subject. Unfortunately there is every need 1 for reiteration in such a matter, ft is hard to believe that the people of Few Zealand have -yet realised the extent of the fire losses per head among them, as disclosed by Mr Hugo, and the measure in which it seems to exceed reasonable proportions. Fire losses are complete losses. That which is destroyed by fire is wiped out of existence, and for the value of it the community is just so much the poorer. The position in that respect is not affected by the fact t-»at the insurance companies cover the fire risks. The community pays for tiie fire losses, and these losses bring others in their train, such as dislocation of business and unemployment. ! A small community such as New Zealand must we well off indeed if it is able to regard with complacence a loss from fires to the extent of close on £l,cod,ooo in twelve months. Why should there be so enormous a difference between the fire losses per head in New Zealand and Great Britain respectively? The comparative figures cited by Mr Hugo show ■ a disparity that is positively startling. The only explanation that seems to redeem the reputation of our country to any j material extent consists in the fact of the existence of so many wooden buildings. But it is not by any means an all-sufficing explanation. It is difficult to avoid.the conclusion that there iS some lack among New Zealanders as a people of a satisfactory moral sense in relation to this question, or at least, a lack of appreciation of the necessity of prevention of fire. It is impossible to suppose that a great many of these fires are hot preventable. Those thau are due to carelessness come witjiin this category, and, if carelessness can never be entirely,,eliminated, there is a brand of it which is so culpable and argues so much irresponsibility that an effort to check it is strongly called for. The fires that are due simply to incendiarism present a problem of another kind. The occurrence of them in the officially estimated proportion of about one in ten reflects seriously on the community. Tt it could be brought about, probably the better education of public opinion would be the most effective means of rendering fires less prevalent in the Dominion. Mr Hugo has raised again the question of fire inquests. It is perhaps difficult to discriminate between one fire and another, and between cases

in which inquiries should be held and oihers in whiv.li they would b e superil nous. Inquiries, as a matter of fact, are very seldom held in this country in respects of outbreaks of fire, and it is probable thu- a very us>L,'l.ice would be rendered if they were instituted more frequently than they are in cases in which attendant circumstances of a mysterious or a suspicious character seem to point to the desirability of close investigation. Of course, and in every case, both the Fire authorities and the police make close investigations as to the cause, and where la doubt exists searching enquiry is made by the authorities, hut unless something tangible is discovered a formal enquiry would be of little value, excepting to disclose suspicious or peculiar circumstances. No doubt, in such cases the fuller ventilation of me facts would be in the interests of all concerned, and to that extent a public enquiry would serve a useful purpose.