THE WOOL FIRES ENQUIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81823, 16 August 1906, Page 2

THE WOOL FIRES ENQUIRY.

PliU PiiESS ASSOCIATION. WIir.MNGTON, August 15. Before Iho Wool Commission, Professor Maelaurin of Victoria Colb"e considered that tho cause of these tires was due (I) to oxidisation, caused by the action of oxygen alone, as iff the case of wool and. oil. A good many oils oxidised yery rapidly, linseed being the extreme; and (2) heating by the action of bacteria, though this of course would only be initial action in the ease of wool containing dirt and animal matter, and which harbored bacteria. These, under favorable conditions, would a certain amount of fermentation which might grow to a suffi. cient extent to cause combustion. Mr Poster: Would the presence of moisture add to the risk ? Professor McLaurin: In the case of wool it undoubtedly would. Perhaps you could get together information for us, following the wool from the packing at the station to the harbor board sheds, (he method of dealing with it in the sheds, and placing it in the hold, and go into the question generally so that we may have more material to go on. I will be very willing to do so. Do you think that damp flax not containing any oil would cause fire P I think it might. Captain David, of the Corinthic, said judging from the period which seemed to hare elapsed berween the ships leaving New Zealand and the outbreak ot the fires, it appears to have been due to an unusual cause, something that had not occurred in the usual run of steamers. He hal boon in the trade for some seven or eight years, and had no recollection of a previous epidemic. The reasonable deduction from his experience would bo that in these particular instances the fire was due to some abnormal circumstances either in wool itself or in the handling or pack, ing it in the colony.