THE WIRING CONTROVERSY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 929, 23 September 1910, Page 4

THE WIRING CONTROVERSY.

'■ ■, ■ EEPLY BY ;ME; : EICHAEDSON; ;;• -.The following .letter'' which .has vbeen handed to THE ! l)ojnNiON ; by the Mayor (Mr. T. M. Wilfdrd) for:publication,'embodies the replyij of Mr... Sv Richardson,' city;. electrical, engineer,., to; the''remarks of. Mr.' C. A. nWen on : the- subject -of "loose-wiring," jpublished' yesterday:— : "His Worship tlie Mayor,,; ' .v . "Sir,—With regard to -the . statements' made in, this morning's Dominion under the ' heading of:' "Loose 'Wiring,"-/ containing the result of an, interview with Mr. C... A.: Ewen, :l of: the Wellington .Underwriter's Association, I desire, to /point oujt"; that that this department has,never advocated any particular manufacturer's system.; What this department did, advocate was 'surfac .ewiring'; of which there':are' a, great .many: systems;'; Stannos being one'of these. If Mr;. Ewen was' present at the Underwriters' .Conference he must know that the: bulk'of the, evi-. dence was in favour of'the Continental system. Prominence was' given , to'; the 'Stannos', system owing- to. the fact' that the makers had provided samples- and distributed catalogues explaining.: their system, which, had received,favourable notice in' the, technical journals. Mr:. Ewen states'that, the underwriters should hotVbV asked, to sanction the wares, of any. particular company.'. -.With ..this I quite 'agree,- andvregret: exceedingly;/to find that' Mr. Ewen has not,read' the: latest, addenda to the New Zealand Eire Insurance rules, on the; last, page; of. which, the goods of three -firms,'; viz.. Messrs. Dorman- and Smith, jßergmann; and Sperrinwood, are advertis(d ; satisfactorily. Mr. Ewen further.static that the system is cheap and nasty, if not dangerous.- I would, like to. point out that 'Stannos' wire is manufactured by Messrs. Siemens Bros, and Co., one of the leadling and oldest-established electrical, firms in Great Britain-and the Continent. A firm -whose Vnam'e has :'. always; ; been, synonymous with good work. |;It is with regret that I see Mr. Ewen states: that, the City Council and the Underwriters. Association view the matter•; from alto-: gether different points of view. This is incorrect,, and does, not alter;.my ; pre-, viously-expressed opinion- that lour interests are identical as far as safety from fire risks is concerned. "■--."•;> . ' ■.-,. ... , "In a letter to their local .agent, dated December 14, .1909, Messrs. Siemens; state 'For your information we. may say:that the system as 'a whole has .been passed by-the majority of large fire; insurance companies amongst which the -following are a few:' The Phoenix, the -Sun,- -; the Guardian, the County, ' the- Yorkshire, etc., etc' Again,' under date 2nd March, 1910, Messrs Siemens state: 'T<e .wires are now accepted: by all the fire-offices in this country and our business in them is rapidly increasing.' Both letters are written from "London andrefer, to the Stannos wire. Surely, if , system .of wiring is approved by all the English fire insurance offices it is hardly, right to describe it as 'cheap and nasty. : . '. "I am, sir, .. ';. "Your obedient servant, ■'.- ."STUART RICHARDSON."