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Fire-prevention Committee (One Meeting). At its inaugural meeting this committee discussed and approved a programme of work as set out under the following headings : — (1) Building Construction Code : Fire-prevention. (2) Building Exit Code— (a) General buildings. (b) Hotels, Boardinghouses, and other residential buildings. (3) Theatre Code : Construction and operation. (4) Fire prevention : General — (a) Fire-alarm installations, electrical and water type. (b) Private fire-prevention installations. (5) General Fire Prevention By-laws. Information necessary to the development of these projects is now being sought, and upon its receipt the work will be actively proceeded with. Asbestos-cement Products Committee (Two Meetings). Asbestos-cement Products Sub-committee .. .. 1 meeting. This committee has been occupied with the formulation of a New Zealand standard specification for asbestos-cement pressure pipes, close contact being maintained with the corresponding committee of the Standards Association of Australia. Before the provisions could be drafted it was found necessary to have tests carried out in order to establish more definitely the relative strengths and durability of these pipes. These tests are now being conducted, and with their completion a suitable specification will be drafted, after which attention will be given to the development of suitable standards for these asbestos-cement products, including corrugated and plain sheets. Civil Engineering Divisional Committee (Three Meetings). Fencing-wire Sub-committee Steel Sub-committee Bridge Loads and Stresses Sub-committee Cement and Concrete Sub-committee .. .. .. .. 3 meetings. In addition to the draft and standard specifications under consideration at the beginning of the year, eleven draft and twenty-eight standard specifications have been referred to the parent committee for consideration. After due examination, five draft specifications and the following two standard specifications have been recommended as suitable for adoption as New Zealand standards : — 302-1938 Round Strand Steel Wire Ropes for Cranes. 785-1938 Rolled Steel Bars and Hard Drawn Steel Wire for Concrete Reinforcement. Standard conditions of contract for use in Civil engineering works have been completed by the committee and referred to the Legal Committee for scrutiny. The Fencing-wire Sub-committee, after completing N.Z.S.S. 143 for Galvanized (Zinc-coated) Steel Fencing-wire, which was issued at the beginning of last year, has now turned its attention to the development of a standard specification for iron fencing standards. On the basis of information supplied by manufacturers and distributors in the Dominion, a statement of the requirements that appear to satisfy local conditions has been referred to the provincial branches of the New Zealand Farmers' Union for an expression of opinion from the farming community. Material is also being collected from the importers of barbed wire and woven wire as a preliminary step to the drafting of a standard specification for this material. The Cement and Concrete Sub-committee has completed a New Zealand standard specification for the testing of concrete, based upon the Third and Fourth Schedules of the Model Building By-law (N.Z.S.S. 95). This has now been forwarded to the Advisory Council with a recommendation that it be issued as a New Zealand standard. The sub-committee has also carried out investigations in an endeavour to find in New Zealand a suitable sand that can be used as a standard sand for testing-purposes in lieu of Leighton Buzzard sand. It has also completed a draft specification for rapid-hardening cement which, when finalized, will form an addendum to N.Z.S.S. 43 —Portland Cement. Mechanical Engineering Divisional Committee (Five Meetings). Fire-extinguisher Sub-committee .. .. .. .. 3 meetings. The attention of the parent committee has been almost exclusively confined to the examination of draft and standard specifications issued by other standardizing bodies within the Empire. During the year fifty-two draft and fifty-two standard specifications have been referred to it for consideration, of which twenty-nine draft and the following twenty-seven standard specifications have been recommended as suitable for adoption as New Zealand standards :— 102-1930 Tramway Axles. 209-1937 Fuel Oils for Diesel Engines (Petroleum and Shale Oils). 302-1938 Round Strand Steel Wire Ropes for Cranes. 321-1938 General Grey Iron Castings (Grades A and C). 489-1933 Turbine Oils. 640-1935 Bare Rod or Wire Electrodes for Metal Arc Welding Wrought Iron and Mild Steel.

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