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The technical evidence submitted on behalf of the Crown recommended advantage should be taken of this research. The British committee's store of information and experience was greatly added to by its wartime .studies of fire problems. In the development of a rational system of fire precautions, it conveniently subdivided the subject of fire hazard into three categories—namely, personal hazard; damage hazard ; and exposure hazard. As the subject of personal hazard is principally one concerning the planning, construction, and protection of means of escape which are dealt with in the Means of Egress Code, no further elaboration is needed. We ■confine ourselves, therefore, to the damage hazard and exposure hazard and the principles that should be incorporated in the fire-prevention by-law now being prepared. As previously stated, it will be necessary to include a clause making the provisions of the Code applicable to existing buildings as was clone in clause 704 of the Means of Egress Code. Precautions against fire should be designed according to the fire hazard arising from the contents of the building as well as its structural character. There has always been difficulty in expressing the measure of the fire hazard of a building, but the difficulty seems to be met by recommendations of the British Committee which introduce the term " fire load " which is broadly related to different kinds of occupancies. " Fire load " applied to a building means the amount of heat measured in British thermal units which could be liberated per square foot of floor area by the combustion of the contents of the building and any combustible parts of the building itself. The understanding of this term should not be beyond the capacity of average people, and it will be readily understood by architects and engineers. We recommend its adoption in a manner bearing relationship to classification of occupancies, as recommended by the British committee. 217. If this principle is adopted consequential consideration must be given to the distribution of fire load in the building, the fire-resistance of the elements of the building, and the subdivision of buildings into compartments so as to limit the extent of damage and reduce the risk of general conflagration. In addition to necessary estimation of fire loading in relation to the classification of building-construction types, by-laws must take into account the height factor, particularly in the case of buildings having wooden interiors, since in such case there is risk of internal collapse, and reliance must rest largely on external fire-fighting. 218. The Secretary of the Standards Institute has indicated that the fire-prevention by-law could be completed within six months. The subject is one of such urgency that we recommend to the Government that they take all steps to see that the by-law be completed within six months from the time of the receipt of this report, and that the Minister advise all local authorities that it must be, adopted by them within three months of its date of completion. The Municipal Corporations Amendment Act, 1938, gives the necessary authority. If additional staff is required by the Standards Institute, we think such staff should be made available. 219. While we have discussed the proposed new fire-prevention by-law and made recommendations with regard thereto, including provision for dealing with existing buildings, the question of existing buildings still needs some consideration in detail. Many existing buildings, because of their manner of construction, their location, and their occupancy, fall much short of the standards of safety which by-laws such as that just discussed would require. Paramountry, such buildings have to be brought into compliance with the Means of Egress Code, but there will remain many complex problems fraught with difficulties and requiring considerable expense. The problems in the present post-war years are more than ordinarily acute owing to the shortages of labour and materials, and the unprecedented demands made upon the building industry for housing purposes.

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