FIRE BRIGADES BILL

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 256, 26 October 1907, Page 4

FIRE BRIGADES BILL

PERMISSIVE OPERATION CON- > ; CEDED.

IMPORTANT CHANGES.

(By, Telegraph:—Parliamentary Bepprter.y

WELLINGTON, Friday.

The. Fire Brigades Bill was reported from the Joint Statutes Revision' Committee in the Legislative Council today. It has been considerably modified on the important points of the terms upon which-fire boards may the fire prevention property of local authorities, and the : -power of local authorities to exercise an option as to the continuance of fire boards within the area under .their jurisdiction. •

The (Hon. l>r. Find--lay) informed the Council that as the bill .was a.matter of urgency, he would place it on the order papW in front of the Land Bill, which, had been set down for its second reading on Tuesday. The clause dealing with the dissolution of fire boards previously provided that the Governor might, upon the application of a fire board and of the contributory local authority, declare:that the district should cease to be a fire district, but as reported from the Statutee Revision Committee it applied the * permissive principle. It reads: "The 'Governor shall, by Oγ-der-in-Council, on the application of the contributory local authority of any fire district, declare that such district shall, as from a date to be specified in such Order-in-Council, cease to be a fire- district, and the same shall, ac from that date, cease to be a fire district accordingly. (2) When any district so ceases to be a fire district, the fire board of that district shall be dissolved, and all its property and liabilities shall become the property and liabilities of the corporation of the district, or of the contributory local authority. In any such case the contributory local authority shall repay to the insurance l companies carrying- on business in' the fixe district at the date of the dissolution of the board such sums as the Governor determines to be just and equitable, having regard, to the value of the property so becoming vested in the local authority, and to the contributions made by sucli companies towards the' cost of the acquisition thereof by the board.. Every sum so repayable by the local authority to any insurance company shall constitute a debt recoverable by that company from the local authority in any court of competent jurisdiction. The power of fire boards to borrow money by way of bank overdraft is extended to the amount of the estimated annual expenditure approved by the Minister. No land or buildings which have become vested in* a board from the local authority shall be sold, leased, mortgaged, charged, or otherwise disposed of without the consent of the local authority until all monies payable by the board to the local authority in respect to such property have been Jfully paid." <c The Minister or the said local authority," concludes the new clause on the subject, "in so consenting to aiiy such sale, lease, mortgage, .charge or other disposition may dispose conditions as to the' manner in which any monies so obtained by the board shall be expended for fire prevention purposes, and tho board shall expend the same accordingly. The provision for repayment of the amount fixed by arbitration or agreoment, as the amount Of the capital value of property transferred from the local to the fire board now reads: "The fire board shall pay to the local authority which owned the said property the capital value thereof as so determined, together with interest thereon, by twenty-sbc annual instalments equal to five per centum of-the said capital value. -Every such instalment shall be deemed to inrfniTe Vi«Mv«>..iT>™: