A FIRE BRIGADE GRIEVANCE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 295, 7 September 1908, Page 6

A FIRE BRIGADE GRIEVANCE.

There is trouble in the Fire Brigade. According to the story published elsewhere the greater part of the auxiliary section of the brigade, dissatisfied with tho scale' of payment they receive, have decided to send in their. resignations, and the city will bo the poorer by the loss of ten or a dozen experienced firemen. Tho brigade is divided into two branches, the .permanent men, numbering 24,' and the auxiliary force, numbering 17. The latter have been paid a retainer of £lo per annum each, and two shillings per hour, after the first hour, for each fire they attended. The first hour of service was given free, in consideration of the retaining fee. Their average earnings per annum,- we believe, did not exceed £20 or £25) and for this their services were available whenever required, day or night. Recently they petitioned for an increase to £20 in the retaining fee paid to them, and certain other concessions, which they felt their services justified, and the matter was dealt with by the City Council at its last meeting. The decision arrived at was to reduce the retaining fee to £7 10s., and to compensate for this reduction by paying the men threo shillings cach for the first hour's attendance 'at a fire and two shillings per hour thereafter. In view of tho fact, however, that no payment is made for drills, false alarms, or chimney fires, unless under special circumstances, and that unless the firebell rings a fireman shall not bo entitled to payment for attendance at a fire, which he may see or,hear of and attend, the number of occasions upon which the new payment for the first hour, will bo earned will cover only a proportion of tho actual attendances made. The prospect therefore is that the men under the new arrangement would receive less instead of more than under the old, but that they would do less work. The Superintendent of the Brigade appears to hold tho opinion that the new arrangement is fair, and should bo satisfactory to the men, but there seems to bo some room for argument on tho point. No doubt tho men will have fewer calls to attend to, but the mere liability to attend is a tie which cannot be treated lightly. There may bo a certain number of enthusiasts in tho community who would undertake the duties imposed for the love of the thing, but we rather think tho Superintendent is not likely to sccurc the class of men he should have unless some more satisfactory scale of remuneration ia provided, Economies by. heuda of

public departments are to be commended in these times of extravagance with public funds, and no one 'will find fault with Superintendent O'Brien or with the City Council for keeping a close watch on the cost of the upkeep of the brigade. But what the • community will want to know is what risk is being run in the matter of efficiency by the economy now being practised. The saving of a, few pounds per annum now may bo made at a costly price to the city at some future time. It is unwise to begrudge the insurance premium which guarantees lis against total loss when a fire comes.