THE OTHER SIDE.

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

THE OTHER SIDE.

SUPERINTENDENT O'BRIEN'S STATEMENT. ' The matter of tho men's complaints was referred to Superintendent O'Brien by a Dominion representative. The. superintendent stated that the services of the auxiliary broJich *wero required only for . the more important'fires,, and when tho new; scale came into; force ; they would not bo expected to turn out, unless they wore specially summoned. Five or six years ago, when, tho permanent branch numbered only ton, there was continual need of the auxiliaries. Now that the permanent forco had- increased to 24, it was sufficient to deal with most fires that occurred!..and .jrith.jgractieallyi all fires

in tho suburbs. Undor the present Bystem members of tho auxiliary branch were always turning out. to fires at which -they wore not needed. Fourteen permanent men, a quite sufficient force, might set out to quell a Bmall suburban outbreak,' and " there would be a dozen unnecessary auxiliaries also upon duty. At 11 o'clock' at night there were 19 pormanent .'men available for duty. Since pormanent men were necessary and must be paid, it was but (natural to make full use of their services; and . under the new scale of wages the auxiliaries would be paid according to tho' actual work they did. They would riot get the £15 a year previously paid, but they would receive a retaining feo'. of £7 10s. a year, with 3s: for the first hour . spont in firo'. repression,. and , 2s. an hour after that. - ; Hithorto no payment,had been made for. tho first hour. If the .remuneration for a year, under the new. system, should prove less than the amount reoeived. under the old scale, the men would know that they had not been called upon to; work for more. They would have the satisfaction. of remaining in bed when night fires occurred 'which' did not require their services. ; Under, the..old system, one member of the auxiliary • branch might attend, 60 fires, and another, less enthusiastic, only half,the number, yet they would get the same remuneration. The change of system involved no reflection on the auxiliary branch, but it had to come some day,' when the permanent branch had grown sufficiently strong. Thero was no intention to do away with the auxiliary branch altogether, and he thought that auxiliaries would always be required for: occasional emergencies. With the present alarm system they could always bo summoned promptly if need was seen to exist. . ■

' Superintendent O'Brien showed our representative the resignations sent in, which were eleven in number. He stated that one man had since asked permission to withdraw hi, resignation. Most of the men lived at Newtown,' and were not conveniently situated ( in respect of fii;es.in other parts of the town. Moreover,_ they were not : always able to leave their work when' alarms were given during the day; The auxiliaries had to ' attend drill once a month. Some: time ago •jthe. men petitioned for a higher remuneration, and "he reported to. tho City Council that he could'not recommend the increase. When tho rjbri suggested forwarding another application to the Council, he stated that he could not give it his . recommendation in support, and the petition therefore was not sent in.' .