FIRES IN WOOL SHIPS.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12592, 7 September 1906, Page 5

FIRES IN WOOL SHIPS.

THE ROYAL COMMISSION.

THIRD DAYS PROCEEDINGS.

Tlif> Royal Commission appointed to cii(|iiiro into tho cauws of fire on wool hhips resumed its sittings in the Provincial Council Chambers yesterday. Dr. McArthur, S.M., presided, the other Commissioners Wing Mr W. G. Foster and Captain Blackbnrne. Alexander MoDougall, Marine Superintendent for the South Island for tho Shaw, Savill Company, said that he had had no experience of fires in cargoes. Ho know of one instance where water had been running from a leaky pipe on to wool for 55 days, and yet that wool landed in good condition, though it was a little warm. This was dumped wool. Witness had not seen high temperature in wool. He had ""..J wool that was absolutely damp reach Home in good condition. Clean greasy wool in his experience would not take fire; nor had he ever found in-_ ferior wool on fire. Foreign substanoee" in the wool might cause spontaneous combustion , . Occasionally he had received a damp bale in a truck, of which the dampness could be attributed io a leaky tarpaulin. Ho had often, compLained to tho Railway Department about the sheeting; but the Department turned round and said that they had nothing to do with the loading at country stations after supplying good tarpaulins. Aβ a, rule his company stowed flax and wool in every ship, tho flax being kept at one end. When the wool came up to where tho flax was, they would put battens between the two. Wool reported on by storemen as warm, or as a little damp, or as very wet, was always sent back to the owners to bo reconditioned. There were instructions that any man found smoking in the hold should leavo at once; but it wae difficult to enforoe the rule. Witness agreed that it would bo possible to provido that every man should give up his pipe and matches before boarding tho ship, tJfough the men might look on. it as humiliating. John Herbert Squires, chief officer of tho Rimutaka, described the loading of that vessel at Wellington, and tho weather coudrtions during the process. There was rain, or occasional showers, on somo- of the days. The fire occurred in No. 5 hold, which was closed on May 7th. Usually the men worked through the rain, unless it was very bad, and when it was raining they would put a tarpaulin on top of the wool. It was not easy for tho wool to Become wet during the loading. When loading at Waitara once witness had seen a balo come out of a lighter and go down into the water in a sling. It was hoisted up on deck, dried in the sun, and cut open, and the water was found not to hayo penetrated more than half an inch. Witness had never seen wool shipped in pouring rail*. He thought it impossible for tho fire on the Rimutaka to have started through a pipe being left on too of a bale, as the bale where the fire originated was in the top tier of the lowop- hold. Witness had never heard that a fire was supposed to have originated on tho Waikato through spontaneous combustion in rolla of oiled and tarred tarpaulin. Sidney James Plummer, second offioer of tho Rimutaka, and formerly on the Waimate, described his experience of a fire on the latter vessel. It occurred ten days before the boat reached Teneriffe. Clayton's fire extinguisher was used, off and on, until they reached Plymouth. Some of the bales discharged in London were smoking or steaming. When cut open they were found blackened to a cinder in the centre, though intact in the outer part. The packs wero burned off. ami only the bands showed they •were bales. Witness had heard that in London ono expert attributed tho Waimate fire to the action of chemicals in tho sheep dip. William Henry Clarke, formerly % wool merchant, said that a certain amount of wet wool was shipped on every ship, as was shown by the catalogues. He thought that all skirtings and slipes should be treated here, and shipped undumped, because, when there was any doubt about wool, the moisture would evaporate if it was not dumped. The tighter wool was dumped, the hotter it would get <if it was damp. Witness had seen wet wool stacked for months, and, as long as tho air was allowed to get at it, there was no danger. Ho thought sheepskins stacked in bales should not be dumped, as they contained foreign matter. The only coinplajnts witness had ever had to make against tho Railway Department were caused by thoir supplying him with dirty trucks, by which he meant coal trucks. William Drummond Stewart, auctioneer for M,eesre Dalgety and Co., Ltd.. stated that his firm handled principally greasy wools. Laet wool season lie had not noticed a larger proportion of inferior wools being sold; but since then lie had seen- more of what were termed ''dags'' coming in. Ho had had ono or two cases of lowgrade wcols coming to the etores in it wet- and heated condition, and r.ot fit to β-liip. He had repeatedly noted wool that had become wet in. transit in trucks; but it was not wot to a serious extent. The system of loading might bo improved, aild tho making ot a flat top on trucks should be stopped. It was. of course, difficult to protect the balee in a tropical rainfall. Witness did not think that the wetting suffered in transit by the wool his firm received led to danger of fire on the ship, as, whenever a wet bale was received it was opened up and dried. He had not noticed heat in fleeced wool, but had done so in the case of scoured wool, though it was not seriously heated. j Thomas Wherry, etoreman at the : New Zealand Farmers' Co-operative j Association's grain stores, said ho hid never seen anything dangerous in the case of greasy wool except that it sometimes- got wet in transit, especially j when it came from round the coast. Some of it was soaking wet, and had evidently been in the sea. The storemeii would, open that wool right out and : dry it. On. the railway bales got wet sometimes cwiim to the tarpaulins overlapping, and the rain beinj; driven in between them by tho wind. Last

season the Railway Department inacle the loaders put 24 bales in an L waggon ai;d 27 in an LA waggon, and this left a flat roof on- top. 'the number of bales per wairgon ought to bo reduced <so as to allow of a watershed being formed on top. The only experience of heated wool that ho 'had; had occurred when the wool was very •wet. Witness's firm did not ship pcotired wool, as that went direct from the scouring works, and was dumped by the shipping companies. Wiliam Murray, manager of the Ohristchurc-h Meat Company, stated that his company had shipped sliped wool for many jears. Last year the wool was treated in the same way as in previous years: neither was there any alteration in the condition of the wool when it was received. He diid not know yet exactly how much damage the Company's wool had suffered by firo, but he had hoard that two bales on being opened were found to be charred in. the centre. Ho had seen wool heated and discoloured, but had never seen it charred. One of the bales referred to contained inferior wool saved from pelts. Witness then gave particulars of experiments made by an analyst at Islington-. Half-bred greasy wool that had been lying under cover for some- time on being analysed yielded 15.92 per cent, of moisture and 25.98 per cent, of fat. while for halfbred slip© wool treated in the ordinary way the figures were 9.68 per cent, of moisture, and 18.45 per cent, of fat, and for three-quarterbrod! slips wool they were 9.70 per cent, of moisture and 15 per cent, of fat. For washed pieces the yields were 9.70 per cent, of moisture and 15 nor cent, of fat, while for washed tli-irds the figures were 9.52 per cent, of moisture and 8 per cent, of fat. Thio temperature oi the bales experimented on was found to be 76 degrees Fahrenheit on the outside, while m the inferior it varied from 76 degrees to 82. Further experiments showed that, if wool -was dried 6<i perfectly as to reduce the moistuno to zero it would absorb from 6.84 to 11.50 per cent, of moisture; so that it reached , its normal condition of its own accord. Last year some buyers disputed l the weightts, a.nd the rotreigliing showed that between the* works and the port the wool gained in weight, the wool being evidently so dry as to pick up moisture from the atmosphere. Witness stated that ho had been told that wool had been i-ent down by farmers as leeks and pieces, whereas it was practically solid animal or vegetable matter, and- probably something very like this was toong the wool shipped. He urged the need for greater supervision, at port, and would also do away with the flat reof mi loading trucks. ; He also thought that it would l>o safer to ship lowgrade wools undumped. Tho Commission then, adjourned until 10.15 this morning.