House Insurance Costs “Too High”

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31783, 13 September 1968, Page 26

House Insurance Costs “Too High”

Insurance costs on a Christchurch home were far too high, Mr G. G. Walker, secretary of the Christchurch Fire Brigade Union, said yesterday.

Mr Walker was commenting on a statement by Mr W. R. Campbell, chairman of the Christchurch Metropolitan Fire Board, that when firemen went on to a shift system it could cost the board another $200,000 a year. Mr Campbell had not said, and would not say, anything on insurance charges, Mr Walker said. There were more than 50,000 homes in Christchurch, but only three or four were completely burned out in a year. This gave “a bonanza of profit” to the insurance companies Mr Campbell represented.

‘‘lt is an insult to firefighters when Mr Campbell says they are working only 21

hours a week, and that the balance of the 84 hours is for sleeping and recreation,” Mr Walker said. “It is not a night’s sleep when a man is woken for a fire at midnight, returns to the station at 1.30 a.m. is then called to another fire at 4 a.m., and perhaps returns to the station at 7 a.m. And all that is for an hourly rate for a senior fireman of about 63 cents an hour.”

When Mr Campbell said fire-fighters got six weeks leave a year, he did not add that they worked all statutory holidays, including Christmas Day, without any penal pay—unlike Civil Aviation Department fire-crews, who were employed by the Government and treated as important members of the community, Mr Walker said.

Board housing to which Mr Campbell referred was given to only 16 firemen, and it was not in rotation on service, “but only if your face fits,” Mr Walker said.