FIRES ON WOOL SHIPS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 51, 11 October 1907, Page 3

FIRES ON WOOL SHIPS.

The recent fire on the s.s. Turakina, which resulted in serious damage to a very valuable cargo, will doubtless reopen the question of the safety or otherwise of wool and flax-carrying vessels. No unanimous finding has yet been made with regard to spontaneous combustion in flax, but Captain Blackburne, one of the Commissioners appointed by the Government last year to enquire into the matter, attached the following note to the report : —I have signed the attached report, but dissent from the statement under the sub-heading "flax and tow." " On the contrary the weight of evidence has been to prove that spontaneous combustion has not occurred in flax or tow," and the subsequent statement under the same heading that " the probability of flax or tow having, through spontaneous combustion, been the cause of any of the fires which have occurred upon vessels leaving New Zealand with such cargo on board is negatived." The report of the Commissioners, however, found that spontaneous combustion does take place in wool, and the following recommedations were made in connection therewith :

I. That it be compulsory on shippers to have the nature or class of their wool clearly marked on the outside of each bale.

2. That sheep-skins should be inspected under the same conditions as wool.

3. That tow should be inspected under the same conditions as wool.

4. That flax and tow should be covered, and if possible with a material less inflammable than hessian.

5. That wool should not be stowed with oil, fat, tallow, tow, or flax, or in contact with packages containing any of these products, or in contact with any other material more readily combustible than wool itself. 6. That in our opinion every ship carrying a cargo wholly or partly composed of wool, flax, tow, or other combustible material should be fitted with an adequate chemical fire-ex-tinguishing system.

The Dog Registrar has been busy in the Te Kuiti district of late, and many former recalcitrants have been induced by gentle persuasive arts to register their pets, even at the cost of ten shillings each. The town is quieter, but there are still some pests at large. During Tuesday night some dogs entered Mr Nicholls' premises and, getting among the fowls, killed thirty-six of them. The loss is a heavy one as the birds were exceptionally well-bred, and just .now were nearly all laying,