ONE FIRE BOARD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 182, 3 August 1932, Page 9

ONE FIRE BOARD.

DISCUSSION OF SCHEME.

MOUNT EDEN'S POSITION.

FEAR OF HEAVIER COST

"Just as sure as night follows day| we are going to have a Metropolitan Fire Board in Auckland, but I think the ratepayers should know what they are up against," said Mr. R. J. Mills, at the meeting of the Mount Eden Borough Council last evening. He said the council had discussed both co-operation with other fire brigades and the proposal to set up a Metropolitan Fire Board. He was not going to oppose the latter because he was certain it would come, despite any opposition which might be offered by him. Mr. Mills quoted figures to show that ■if the board were formed the cost of fire protection in Mount Eden would be considerably more than at present. He ( pointed out that the borough valuations included land upop which the houses were built and ae the land could not be destroyed by fire the valuations for fire purposes should be on buildings only. At present the borough had a station and plant valued at £7000, and there was no guarantee that the Fire Board would take it over. It would be unfair to rate the risk from fires in Mount Eden on the same line as that of the city, where there were bigger build-1 ings, gum stores, and the like. In twoj years in Mount Eden the damage done bv fires, or the amount of the insurance on the places which caught fire, was £6240, but in the city one fire alone ran into £45,000. Mr. J. J. Mulvihill said he was not in favour of centralisation or amalgamation unless it meant a saving to the ratepayers of Mount Eden. Two schedules dealing with the proposals had been presented, one showing an expenditure of £26,000 and the other £30,000. The first would cost Mount Eden £623 more than at present, and the second £780 more. That would mean another halfpenny in the rates. It was decided that Mr. Girling Butcher, Government inspector of fire brigades, be iuvitcd to meet the council to-day.