STORING FILMS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19645, 14 June 1929, Page 6

STORING FILMS.

WELLINGTON BOND SAFE. SUPPLIES SENT TO SYDNEY. [THE PRESS Special Service.] WELLINGTON,-June"-13.' Wellington possesses the ' largest film storing, bond in the Dominion. Owing to the highly inflammable nature of kincciatagraph films, extreme care is necessary in the handling and storing of them. Cable messages in to-day'e newspapers announced that one film corporation had lost £50,000 worth of kinema films. mostly the latest | "talkies," owing to an outbreak of i tire in one of the bond stores on the Sydney waterfront. Xen* Zealand has so far been fortunate in not having any serious fires of this nature, probably largely due to the fact that the Customs agents, together with the supervising Government officials, are very particular about the manner in which fire precautions are observed. There need be no misgivings as to the possibility of an occurrence similar to that in Sydney in the Wellington film storing bond in Sydney street. The vault has been so designed that the possibility of fire is reduced to a minimum. The walls are of concrete, and there are two 4ft flues which rise 20 feet above the roof of the vault and 3ft above that of the main building. The films themselves are placed in circular metal containers, which in turn are packed on steel racks with ample ventilation between. Nothing is left to chance and even the electric light globes- in .the vault are installed inside fireproof coverings. The vault is sealed by a fireproof door, which is kept closed by automatic mechanism. A pungent explosive gas conies away from the film, but this rapidly escapes by means of the flues. In the event of a fire in the surrounding building -the films in the vault would be-perfectly safe from the flames. Conversely an outbreak inside the vault could not do any damage beyond the confines of itswalls. The vault in Wellington has constantly in its care "talkie" and silent pictures, the value of which runs into sis figures. It is-capable of holding three million feet of film. When visited today it was estimated that over £1,000,OOp worth of film wae on the racks, the ugh they were then a long way from being fully utilised. It might be mentioned that owing to the destruction of film in Sydney on Wednesday, Australia has found it necessary to draw on New Zealand's supplies still in bond. .A quantity of film from the Wellington bond store was dispatched north by the express this afternoon, to connect with the Sydney boat at Auckland to-morrow.