WOOL FIRES' COMMISSION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81825, 18 August 1906, Page 2

WOOL FIRES' COMMISSION.

Per press Association. ■ Wellington, August 17. Captain Moffat, of the steamer Ma-1 man, said ho had been in the trad* for the past thirty years, and during that time two cases oi spontaneous combustion had come under his notice. He had seen wool so hot that it was hardly possible to put one's hand on it. Witness was at Home when the Gothic arrived. When the bales of wool were brought up on the wharf the interior of one bale was found to be absolutely 1 eaten away, while iil looked all right on the outside. In his mind there was no doubt spontaneous combustion did take place. He was of opinion thai tt* recent fires might be attributed to three causes : (1) Damp wool •; (2) the presence of grease in the wool; (8) the use ol chemicals in treating wool prior io its being baled, , '. ■ Wellington, August 17. Professor Easterfield, of Victoria College, giving evidence before the fires on wool ships' Commission, said in order to find out the cause of these fires, it would be necessary to carry out a series of experiments with wool under the same conditions as pre. vailed aboard ships. It would seem that wool shipped greasy might be a greater danger than wool properly cleansed aid dried. Moisture, with surroundings infested with bacteria, would bring about rapid oxidisation. The raising of the temperature might be purely chemical or bacteriological, but assuming that it was bacteria, a system of sterilisation would get over the difficulty. That might be settled by experiment, as well as making experiments with bales of wool, subjecting them to varying conditions of moisture and so on. What they wanted to find out for certain was the conditions under which fires would occur.

Mr Foster: Don't you consider that you could conduct certain experiments and then give us evidence upon them P Any experiments o£ this kind would nave to extend over several months, Fires hare not occurred until vessels have nearly reached home. I would suggest a small committee of experts to conduct a series of experiments. The Commissioners expressed themselves in favor of this course, but did not wish the period of making the experiments prolonged, as it had to present its report within a stated time. Professor Easterfield said the Commissioner would have to bear the ex. pense of the experiments. He had suggested to private people that by spending probably £SOO or so in experi* ments they could settle very clearly conditions under which fires were likely tQ oceur, Mr Foster : Will you take steps to asoertain what experts would act en the committee and the probable cost of the experiments, so that we may decide whether we shall go on with such ex« periments ? Professor Easterfield: I will be happy to do so.