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Session 11. 1912. NEW ZEALAND.

FIRE BRIGADES OF THE DOMINION (REPORT ON THE), BY THE INSPECTOR OF FIRE BRIGADES, FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30th JUNE, 1912.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

The Inspector of Fire Brigades to the Hon. the Minister of Internal Affairs. Sir, — Office of the Inspector of Fire Brigades, Wellington, Ist July, 1912. Herewith I have the honour to lay before you my fourth annual report, for. the year ended 30th June, 1912, relative to the working of the Fire Brigades Act, and including matters in connection therewith. The number of proclaimed fire districts has been increased by the addition of Rotorua : a poll was held in that town in November last, and the proposal was carried practically unanimously, there being only two dissentient votes recorded : thus making a total of twenty Fire Boards now in existence —viz., Auckland, Christchurch, Dannevirke, Dunedin, Feilding, Gisborne, Greymouth, Hastings, Hawera, Hokitika, Lawrence, Maori Hill, Masterton, Milton, New Plymouth, Oamaru, Palmerston North, Petone, Rotorua, Whangarei. The Fire Brigades Act, No. 63 of 1908, requires as a preliminary to the proclamation of a fire district that the proposal must be submitted to a poll of the ratepayers, and section 3 of the amended Act, 1908, No. 243, reads as follows: "No proposal submitted to the ratepayers of a district under section four of the principal Act or under section two of this Act shall be deemed to be carried unless at least one-third of the ratepayers of that district have validly exercised their votes in respect of that proposal." This clause, owing to the difficulty of getting the requisite proportion of ratepayers to record their votes, is under ordinary circumstances almost prohibitive, as proved in the case of Grey Lynn, where a poll was held on the 12th October last, and, although the majority of those who voted were in favour of the borough being proclaimed a fire district, the total number of votes recorded were over .50 per cent, short of the number required to make the poll valid. There are now twenty-three fire brigades and two fire police corps working under the control of Fire Boards, and I have officially inspected the brigades, their stations and equipment, &c, as follows: — Auckland: November 28 and 29, 1911; April 26, 1912. Christchurch: October 26 and 27, 1911; March 25 and 26, 1912. Dannevirke: November 8, 1911; June 4, 1912. Dunedin : September 23 and 27, 1911; February 2 and 7, 1912. South Dunedin : September 28, 1911; February 3, 1912. Caversham : September 28, 1911. Feilding: August 29, 1911; January 15 and 16, 1912. Gisborne: October 12 and 13, 1911; February 19 and 20, 1912. Greymouth:' November 15, 1911; March 21, 1912. Hastings: October 9, 1911; February 15 and June 5, 1912 Hawera: September 1, 1911; January 18, 1912.

I_H. Ck.