FIRE BRIGADE NEWS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5512, 11 December 1929, Page 3

FIRE BRIGADE NEWS.

GATHERING AT THAMES. PRESENTATION OF MEDALS. On Saturday evening at Thames there gathered some two hundred firemen and friends from all parts of the province to do honour to Foreman E. Kenny on the presentation of his gold star for 25 years’ service. Among those present were Mr A. M. Samuel, M.P., Superintendent Gilbert (president), Captain T. J. Watts (secretary), and other executive officers of the United Fire Brigades’ Association of New Zealand ; and Mr W. Bongard, Mayor of Thames. Five members of the Paeroa brigade were present, Superintendent W. J. Moore and Secretary C. W. Malcolm having left Paeroa in the early afternoon to meet members of the association’s executive for the purpose of discussing various fire and fire prevention matters. Thames Borough Medal.

After Superintendent Garrett had presented Foreman Kenny with the much coveted gold star on behalf of the association, the Mayor of Thames, Mr Bongard, rose to present also the medal which the Borough of Thames always confers upon members of the Thames brigade who gain the gold star. This medal, said Mr Bongard, which was struck at a cost of some £lO, was the ninth, but he did not want Foreman Kenny to place any thought upon its intrinsic value. It was only a very slight token in recognition of the unequalled services rendered by a fireman. Mr Bongard thanked Superintendent Garrett for his kind remarks concerning the treatment of the brigade by the Borough Council, and said he was glad that in spite of the position of the borough finances the brigade got everything it asked for. Only last month a deputation from the brigade waited on the council. It felt that the part of the station where the engine was kept should be better than a corrugated iron, unlined room, and offered to provide the labour if the council would provide the timber, etc. A modest sum of £lOO was asked for, said the Mayor, and to-day the station was creditable indeed. In concluding, Mr Bongard said there was no need for any fear that these condiitons would ever alter. The council was doing only its plain duty, and no borough council could possibly do anything less than was was being done all the time by the Thames Council. It was only a slight way in which a governing body could recognise the wonderful services of its volunteer firemen. Mr A. M. Samuel, M.P., replying to the toast of the Parliament of N.Z., was most enthusiastically received with prolonged applause. He is known for his enthusiasm on matters affecting the fire service of the Dominion, and was permitted to talk without any time limit, though the hour was late. Apart from ffiis store of humour, from which he constantly drew to the accompaniment of uproarious laughter, Mr Samuel showed a clarity of vision and a grasp of matter that evoked confidence and shut. party views in the background of unimportance. He was accorded a specially interestingffiearing and was applauded at numerous junctures.

Secretary Watts, of the Fire Brigades’ Association, put before the 'gathering the service the association was still rendering to this Dominion—a serivce which perhaps would never be properly realised until it tfas lost to the country. He hoped that day would never come, though there were many who were in one way or another hastening it. What was needed constantly was the support of local bodies and Parliament. As far as Mr Samuel was concerned, the speaker said he knew personally, and also from his friend Superintendent Moore and Secretary Malcolm that Mr Samuel had acted most enthusiastically upon any request they had put before him for the benefit of the fire service of the Dominion to the people of this country. The Thames Borough Council was to be congratulated on its recognition of the work of its splendid brigade, he said. There were only two volunteer fire brigades left in this district, and they were Thames and Paeroa.

Secretary Watts, continuing, said the executive was gratified that at least one of its numerous requests had moved a step nearer the goal. In the Education Gazette of December 1 the department had issued an order that all teachers must teach the lesson in fire prevention. The executive would see that these instructions were carried out. It seemed incredible that the fire service of the Dominion had to fight to have such reforms as these instituted when there was no denying that they were vital and urgent needs in the community and an economic necessity in the Dominion. However, this was one move at last in the right direction, and it was most gratifying to those concerned in the matter.