DOMINION’S HUGE FIRE LOSSES

Shannon News, 25 October 1929, Page 4

DOMINION’S HUGE FIRE LOSSES

SOME POSSIBLE REMEDIES.

In addressing tho members at the annual re-union of the Palmerston North Pire Brigade on Friday evening, the Inspector of Brigades in New Zealand, Mr. T. T. Hugo, of Wellington, gave a brief report on the precautions necessary* to overcome the increasing loss by* nro in the Dominion yearly. At the outset, he said, he did not wish to deal with the actual fire loss as tile -remedy. It wae‘ }a remarkable thing how the loss was decreasing in Oilier coun.nes, yet increasing here. As an example, in tho United (States of America and Canada, the loss over a period of six \*ca'rs had dropped from 362,000,000 dollars to 301,000,000 despite an increase in the population of .10,000,000, while in New Zealand the ioss had increased from £381,000 to £1,484,1)00.

This was only* the insured loss, while there was a large amount uninsured, which had to be considered. In 1925, the loss had been estimated at £1,636,118 0r.22s 6d per head of the population of the Dominion.

There were no post-war figures for Europe but pre-war ones for Italy*, Germany* and France showed the losses to be Is 6d per capita while it was 8s 9d in New Zealand over the same period. The losses might be attributed in a great measure to the amount of wooden construction in New Zealand but it should also be remembered that the United States of America and Canada were in similar circumstances.

Other points to be borne in mind were the amount of fire caused by earthquakes in this country and the economic value of money in the countries under comparison. But the salient factor was that whilst decreasing in other countries, fire loss was increasing in New Zealand.

It was not of much importance saying that the country had been through a bad period, as this was general. In the inspector's opinion, there were many remedies and he declared that one of the fundamental methods was the compulsory teaching of fire prevention in schools. Representations had been made in this regard and although it was to have been included in the syllabus, it was only published in the School Gazette and left to the discretion of the teachers to impress upon the children the importance of these facts.

The, installation of auto protection appliances was yet another remedy. In other countries, the results in this regard had been astonishingly successful and he urged due consideration)'of this point. Inspector Hugo next quoted the figures given before a Royal Commission in England on auto-protection method? and pointed out that the rebates allowed by insurance companies would, in some cases, pay the interest on the installation of such a system. He said that new by-laws should be framed and a revision made of those existing at present. More important itill, however, was. a stringent supervision of all by-laws that had already been passed.. It was urged that Chambers of Commerce encourage fire. protection methods.

In Dunedin, it had been suggested to the speaker that it was really a matter for insurance companies but he disagreed, for he contended that if the companies found that the premiums were not sufficient to’ cover the losses, 'the premiums would be raised. Insurance companies were s to blame in some respects also, inasmuch as they gave over-insuranc4 in some cases and also allowed sentiment to creep into business.

In conclusion, Inspector Hugo dealt with the psychology which created false fire alarms. He cited the returns contained in a report covering a large number of towns, having an aggregate population of 6,900,000. In 1928, 27£ malicious alarms were received and the towns referred to in this regard included cities ' such as Birmingham Glasgow, Manchester, Singapore, Oapc Town and Bombay, with a large proportion of the inhabitants on a mucl lower scale of mentality than that oi our own population. Was there no something significant in that? askec the speaker.