The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. TUESDAY, JULY 23, 1901. THE FIRE BRIGADES BILL

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 163, 23 July 1901, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

TUESDAY, JULY 23, 1901. THE FIRE BRIGADES BILL

For th» c&ose that lacks asststanci. For the wrong that needs rtaiatase*, 7or the fntnre in the diitanca, jed tho ftoi that ye can do.

Instead of introducing a useful and workable Fire Brigades' Bill on the lines of those now in operation in several of the Australian States, adapted -to the less centralised oonditions of New Zealand, the Government has dealt with this important measure in a number of clauses tacked on to the State Fire Insurance Bill. In this Bill, as in others, we can detect the centralising tendency which

is every year becoming more pronounced in New Zealand legislation, and which is gradually changing the character of the free self - governing institutions that grew up under the aegis of the abolished provincial legislatures. Everything is to be regulated from Wellington — in many cases .by that most pernicious system, orders-in-council, which transfer the duties of legislation from the representatives of 'the 'people to Ministers and Civil Service officials. Under the State Fire Insurance Bill there are no fewer than 25 separate matters upon which the Governor-in-Council is empowered to make regulations, which would have the force of 'aw. Apart from this, the fire brigades clauses of the Bill fail to make adequate provision for the needs of the many small towns which are too poor to provide efficient fire brigades for themselves, and yet at the same time comprise a great deal of insurable property. It is in towns of this description that some of the worst fires have occurred, and many of them are liable t<sbe swept away by fire at any time. Now, under the Victorian Act, which seems to be a well-thought-out and successful measure, metropolitan and country Fire Brigades' Boards are constituted, comprising in ' each case three members nominated by the councils of the municipalities, to which the Act applies, thTee nominated by the contributing insurance companies, and three appointed by the Government. It is the .business oi these Boards to form brigades, establish salvage corps, and adopt other measures for extinguishing fires and saving property. The funds are subscribed jointly by the municipal councils, insurance companies and Government. This is the practice in all the Australian States. In Victoria each contributor—Government, municipalities, and companies—pays a sum equal to one-third of the expenditure. The same proportions are enacted under the laws of New South Wales and Queensland, but in South Australia, while the Government contributes a third the municipalities only find twoninths and the insurance companies pay four-ninths. The Victorian Act is the product of extended experience. It has been in operation for ten years, and has worked satisfactorily. To show how comprehensively the whole subject has been dealt with, we may mention that whereas the New Zealand Bill attempts to deal with this subject in five scrappy clauses, which would be found utterly unworkable if adopted, the Victorian Fire Brigades Act of 1891 is a comprehensive statute of twenty-six pages and seventy-nine clauses. It makes provision not only for metropolitan fire brigades, but also for the needs of country towns.

Nothing1 bus been more conspicuous of late years than the bad drafting of many of the New Zealand Bills, which I a fter attempts have been made Ito whip them into some sort of workjable shape in the two Houses of Parliament are placed upon the statute book in such a crude, self-contradict- ; ory condition that Solomon himself j could not interpret them.' and besides j furnishing endless work ['or the Courts they become the subject of i amendment session after until , some consolidating measure is broueht down which often makes

confusion worse confounded. Apparently the advice of men who have

practical experience, or who may be j alfected by these measures, ia never sought, Bills being framed by persons who have no expert knowledge of the subjects dealt with, in obedience to yome mandate from the Government, who apparently conceive it to be their I duty to fling upou the table of the j House lit the cormnencemunt of each ! session a vast number of Bills dealing with important matters that cannot possibly have received adequate consideration from Ministers during the recess. The Fire Brigade proposals now before Parliament are manifestly inadequate and unworkable. A more meagre, feeble attempt to legislate upon an important public question could hardly be conceived. Among other objectionable and inequitable

provisions, it charges the insurance companies with one-half the cost of maintaining lire brigades without giving them any voice in the expenditure of this money. The easiest way for the Government to deal with the matter now is to throw the present abortion into the waste paper basket, and adopt the Victorian Act with a simple adaptation to New Zealand conditions, by creating one Fire Insurance Board for each Pro-

vincial District, giving representation to country districts that contribute. If this were done we might hope that the present unsatisfactory position of affairs with regard to fire, extinction in the colony would be speedily amended. New Zealand claims credit for having given the Australian States the lead in various im-

portant matters; here is an instance in which we can profitably follow their example.