FIRES ON WOOL SHIPS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 195, 16 August 1906, Page 2

FIRES ON WOOL SHIPS.

iH ' i ■%■■' THE KOYAL COMMISSION. ~• j &' • i "-- (By Telegraph.—Press Association.' k-U- WELLINGTON, Wednesday. Before the Wool Commission, Profess- j •or Maclauxin, of Victoria College, said \ lie considered that the cause of the* j fires was due (1) to oxidisation, caused l.y the action of oxygen alone, as in the ! vase of wool and oil. A good many oils j ..xidiscd very rapidly, linseed oil being lite extreme. (2) Heating by action ot j bacteria, though this, of course, would j ..nly be initial action in the case of wool containing dirt and animal matter and \ which harboured bacteria. These, under : favourable conditions, would set up a , i-ertain amount ot fermentation, which j might grow to a sufficient extent to I cause combustion. .Mr. Foster: Would the presence ot j moisture add to the risk?—ln tlie case I of wool, it undoubtedly would. .Mr. Foster: Perhaps you could get to- . :._ ether information for us following the ! cool from" the packing at the station to 4ae Harbour Board sheds, the method arf dealing with it in the sheds, and plac- j £_._ it in the hold, and go into the question generally, so that we may have more material to go on'? Professor Maclaurin-. I will be Y'ery j ■i illing to do so. Mr. Foster: Do you think that damp I flax, not containing any oil, would cause : ,nc? —I think it might. Captain David (of the Corinthici -rated that, judging- from the period which seemed to have elapsed between -hips leaving New Zealand and the ottt-i-ieak of the fires, it appears to have been

due to an unusual cause, something that , iuiil not occurred in the usual run ot i >i earners. He had been on the trade ftir seven or eight years, and had no it-collection of a previous epidemic. A| 1.-.tsonable deduction from this experience would be tlittt in these particular I in-tanees the fire was due to sumo ab- i normal circumstances, either in the wool i itself or in the handling or packing ot" I it in the colony. j '■ ' " * : l (By Telegraph—Press Association.) [ WELLINGTON, Ibis day. Before the Commission to-day Captain , 1 ('•. Smith, superintendent of mercantile marine, said he had seen a ease of j u.,0l smouldering when the hatches wei-e ' i i Icon off a vessel. He had not formed i any theory a.s to' the probable cause of; i !h-c fires. It Yvas in his opinion the . wool packs that fired, and he thought; it would be a good precaution to satur- j .tie the packs with a solution to render the material noncombustible. He did not think it would be wise to take wool and tow in the same hold a long voyage. Captain Evans, marine superintendent ot the Shaw-Savill Co.. said he had no experience of fires in cargoes at sea, and he had not theorised us to the cause of j such fires. ( ■ / I