BIRKENHEAD RESIDENT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 30, 6 February 1899, Page 2

BIRKENHEAD RESIDENT.

LOSSES BY FIRE,

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —Following on the recent conflagation at Whangarei and Liverpool street, the present seems an opportune time for directing public attention to the enormous, and to a great extent prevent ible, fire waste, to which 'must be added the deaths and; injuries directly caused by fire, and the urgent necessity for municipal, and joint action in the matter of efficient building regulations, i.e. such as dividing parapet brick wails inter-' secting wooden tenements, sufficient fire breaks in groups and blocks, of buildings and the like. To indicate the more subtle and hidden causes of fire is to promote inquiry, to stimulate to measures of prevention and to increase general prosperity, as the loss is not the loss of the individual or the Insurance Company but of thecommunity at large. The nation is the poorer to the extent of whatever, has been consumed. The occurrence of large fires in mills and manufactories has the effect of throwing large numbers Of workmen out of employ and diminishing tax and rate payingcapacity, while in- many cases particular manufactures are diverted into j foreign channels, the result being ! national loss. The 'Times,' in 1882, i published a table in which the total annual, national loss by fire on pro-' perty throughout the world was estimated at £67,500,000. In this connection it is pleasing to vote that Mayor Goldie has called for report from the responsible officer at the recent Liverpool street fire, and it may be permissible to suggest that a compulsory investigation of the cause oi\ every fire should be inaugurated by* the State (as is the case in some of the States and South Australia), and^ I am led to believe that the results would be beneficial both to the individual and the community at large, as comparatively few of our citizens aro aware of the immense annual loss incurred by the all devouring element,fire, which proves a good servant but. an indifferently bad master.—l am/ etc., * ■ , W. H. NABB.