FIRE BOARD ESTIMATES

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 296, 10 September 1926, Page 8

FIRE BOARD ESTIMATES

_— £28,787 FOR THE FIRST YEAR IMe item of the greatest impoi tance on the order paper of the Fire Boaro at its monthly meeting yesterday was consideration of the estimates for the first year of its existence. The amount to be provided jointly by the City Council, fire insurance companies, and Government was £28,787. This figure is a great deal larger than any annual grant which the council has been called upon to pay since it has controlled tne fire brigade service of the city, but it' was explained that of that sum £O2OO is the first annual payment to the city for the purchase by the board of the fire brigade properties and plant, tlie board having arranged to pay off the arranged value of such properties in' annual payments over a period of twenty-six years. In addition to that, a good deal of the existing plant has been dispensed with as obsolete, and much new plant, including a new engine, is being acquired, as well as a quantity of new hose, so that much of the expenditure of the first year is not likely to be recurring The board proposed to raise a loan of £5600 to cover its first annual payment to the City Council, so that the expense on that score might be spread over a term of years. Mr. M. F. Luckie questioned whether the board was under the necessity of referring its valuation figures to the Minister of Internal Affairs, but the secretary pointed out that the Act made it mandatorv on the part of the board to do so. The valuation, however, had not been quite completed, and the figures will not be submitted to the Minister until a full board meeting is held, which cannot be the case until the return of Mr. Marks from Australia