H.- 12.

1932. NEW ZEALAND.

FIRE BRIGADES OF THE DOMINION (REPORT ON THE) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH, 1932, BY THE INSPECTOR OF FIRE BRIGADES.

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

The Inspector of Fire Brigades to the Hon. the Minister op Internal Appairs. Office of Inspector of Fire Brigades, Sxr ; — Wellington, 9th September, 1932. I have the honour to submit the twenty-fourth annual report for the year ending 31st March, 1932, on the working of the Fire Brigades Act, 1926. Fire Districts. No new fire districts were constituted during the year, but the four Fire Boards created last year —viz., Cambridge, Woodville, Newmarket, and Birkenhead—came into operation. The Birkenhead Board was unable to arrange finance for the erection of a fire-station, and a temporary arrangement was made for the protection of the district by the Northcote Borough Council's brigade. The Newmarket Board also made an arrangement under which the district is to be protected by the Auckland Fire Board (see reference below). As will be seen from the returns attached, there are now fifty-five Fire Boards operating in New Zealand. Dominion Fire Waste. The fire loss for the year ending 31st December, 1931, was £1,292,094, as compared with £1,139,691 for the previous year. These figures are the total payments made by insurance companies, plus a percentage for fire loss not covered by insurance. This percentage is based on the returns of uninsured loss in Fire Board districts, and, since the uninsured loss in areas not protected by fire brigades would certainly be higher, the figures represent a conservative estimate of the Dominion fire waste. The figures for 1931 do not include any fire loss caused directly or indirectly by the Hawke's Bay earthquake, but they do include an amount of approximately £100,000 for fires which occurred in the district during the period following the earthquake when the water-supply and fire-fighting arrangements were not in operation. The following table shows the total fire loss and. the loss per head of population during the past five years, and for purposes of comparison the loss per head in Great Britain, Canada, and the United States of America is also shown. The fire waste in the two latter countries, although considerably lower than during the early post-war period, is still regarded by all authorities as being excessive.