FIRE LOSSES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 100, 25 May 1909, Page 2

FIRE LOSSES.

SmiESTIONS iiY CAPTAIN* UIXIO. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, liny ti. Xew Zealand's losses llmiugii lives have averaged lit least QdO.OOO per year during the last few years, savs Captain Hugo, inspector of live brigades, who is at pvesent in Auckland. How can this waste be reduced? lie was asked. 7 In reply Captain Hugo detailed some of the most frequent causes of lire. First in the list came the uuilty method of constructing moat wooden dwellings. They are provided with excellent 111.1terialu for spreading flames in the sliapi of light hoard partitions covered with highly inllamniable paper and scrim, while gaps between the boards gave further facility for the rapid progress of lire. If partitions were plastered there would be a chance of confining an outbreak to a single room, lint when the brigade is called to an average dwelling house in New Zealand, said the tire inspector, "the whole place lias to be soused before the scat of the fire is discovered. The remedy is quite simple. If only the lining boards were tongnea' and grooved, or more closely litted, the lire would not spread so rapidly. Plaster is a better material for partitions, and brick houses are best of all." l'ii"M would be reduced in number, he sa.d, if there were fewer chimney faults, some of which were due to earthquakes, anil if all local bodies followed the example of the older and well regulated cities by making the accumulation of empty eases, barrels, and straw a punishable oltenc '.