THE FIRE PREVENTION ASPECT.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13541, 30 September 1909, Page 8

THE FIRE PREVENTION ASPECT.

SOME LOCAL OPINIONS, - ;■; ■ >. — The several ; local -tniuMk- 1 gens of insurance companies, obtained by ia reporter yesterday,'all tended to support the criticisms of the value ;of i the city high-pressure scheme for fire prevention purposes contained in the report of Superintendent Erckj; cub-; mitted to the Fire Board at ite; meet* ing oh' Tuesday evening. > --.One \bf the; gentlemen Been contended strongly.-that one main was not sufficient for the fire blocks; into 'whicli 'tie 'city is <di-. vided. And then, again, it was pointed out that the pipes serving the eider streets were far too small, and it was claimed that these would:, only supply \ one lead of hose. Instead of three-mcfc." pipes, five or sir-inch pipes should have been laid in those locafitiesi In iotlierj parts of. New Zealand '.it; thad, been; round that liesesniaii; pipes v/hre\ war serviceable, *nd they ) were being 'replaced with- larger ones. He certainly thought the present steam fire-engines "should be /retained by the city untilt3ie Sydenham supply was connected up as an auxiliary, and imtft'the mains had nad a chance to settle down into* their proper positions. v The speaker' said there tad been very little rain during the late winter, and the ground was comparatively 4ry. Should a. prolonged wet period be experienced during the summer there was certain to be a considerable amount of underground movement, which wou-ld probably result in numerous joints blowing out. The whole of the steam engines should be Kept for a- year or two at any rate, andi after that a couple should be permanently retained. "- ; i. A. second gentleman said the whole scheme was not large enough to satisfactorily serve the needs of the whole oitv for a domestic supply and fire prevention purposes, and he pointed to th.c very large reservoirs in other cities Superintendent Erck. Asked why the fire insurance «ompanies did not mate suggestions Jbr a more ade--quate system -when the qnestion was , originally before the ratepayers, the eaid if they had they would , Srobably have been abused by the pubT^J 0 *" to check progress. Further than that, he took it that it was no part of the companies' functions to dictate what should be done. All they had to do was to consider the fire-preventive measures at commend, and to adjust their, rates accordingly. He was etrongly averse to the city parting with the steam fire engines. Probably only a very email amount would be got for them, and they would bo of far greater value as an auxiliary means of fire-extinction " than the trifling sum they would realise if they were sold. He pointed out further that m large American and English cities where high-pressure supplies were available, steam fire engines were nearly always kept ready for immediate service. It was all the more essential to follow that course in ! Christchurch, seeing that they were de~ penoent upon ; ono main and a • single reservoir. He had! a vivid recollection of the intense anxiety that prevailed in Wellington some years ago during the time that the broken main, which dislocated practically the whole supply, was being repaired. He agreed that the mains in the side streets were too small to be of any great service. These might serve the needs of sparsely populated localities in the meantime, but they must anticipate great expansion of the city in the near future, when it wouia

bo necessary to replace '' ; : ;''tfflf§|ffl| mains with others of larger The question naturally arose vVAj jgBW provide for the future needs of at /the present time /when it done with comparatively smell; nicrera&Kmß ed expense ? On the point whether tSSJafIJH Fire Board or the superintendent shonlsisiiM should not have raised their before the work had progressed to present advanced' stage, the HHm stated that the scheme was Wggggm by the ratepayers on the present iitwi.l fjjgsm before the Fire, Board came into esitel gffiill ence and before the present •supon&ii rasfl tendent arrived in New Zealand. I *l§H^l A third gentleman, not with insurance matters, said . thtlllllliil though the matter was one for «n pert, it still seemed to him that was little or no advantage to be ed from connecting up the Sydenhta*|S||S9 supply save for use in the event of tha?|§ifii main system breaking down c The two supplies could not b* pttiwliHjß through the mains at once, ; tho city supply would probably b*cfcfjs|g|l up in the Sydenham main and find fta/*i £§| way out over the top of the §§9 water tower. And then- there W|3s|l 19 the question of greatly Wμ pressure from the SydenJiam eupplys|lH|| especially tlie northern parts of thtagjj ffl city, to be taken into'account, as a fighting factor. He did not place j store upon the fact that other had several reservoirs to fall back upotti&ii»9 i The fact that these existed did not i dioate. any particular far-sightedness ■ the part of the municipal authoritiet, concerned. It was all a matter of era|§|H podiency. What had happened simply that the original reservoirs i been found to be too small and of larger dimensions.: had to be <»tt-2j§i|iJ structed. But it was a process of to bring that satisfactory state of ra*t4sl]|ja ters to pass, and no doubt the wnvli&fflfl thing would happen in Christchurch ufiigilfl the future. There was no nuvstiotvinf|§?ifl the speaker's mind, about.the 6trengtira||j|B of the spiral steel pipes. The £winTtt(jj|fs|| did not like' was the numerous bkq%gjg|9 outs at the joints; leakages having eSi||ff«9 parently occurred in places pairs had previously been effected. - - '--(^«^S Several other gentlemen thought WgmSil matter was one Tor careful ation by the City Council, with regard to the fire-prevention l pect. 'Superintendent Erck's . reajra|is9 and the Fire Board's endorsement Jj*||iii|B had a disquieting effect -which l either be dispelled by aome competent authority, erstepe he to enhance .the effectiveness of the tern by some isiieb means ac the tendent had suggested. ; /^^ffiH