FIRES NEAR RAILWAYS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 9823, 24 July 1900, Page 5

FIRES NEAR RAILWAYS.

The Commissioner's Report.

{FROM OUR PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.) '*

[by telegraph.]

Wellington, Last night,

In his report as commissioner appointed ?to make investigations as to claims on the Railway Department for damage by fire .alleged to have been c»us"d by sparks from railway engines, Mr Poyntou says: —"The appliances used on the New Zealand railways ivr preventing sparks are equal if rot superior to any used on the principal railway of the -world. 'J hey are inspected daily, and any dtfect has to be at once reported. The appliance- being the best known, proper supervision being exercised in order to maintain them iv a state of efficiency, and reasonable precautions being taken to prevent the accumulation of inflammable material near the lines, the department is blameiess in respect of fires .caused by sparks from the engines. They must be ded as accidental As the Auckland section, on which soft coal only is burnt, appears to have very many fires, apparently due to sparks from the encioes, the department should aa an experiment duiing the dry season burn only hard coal on that section. This would involve an expenditure of perhaps £1500 for alterations to tlie engines and the extra price of bard coal, but the fires are so numerous, and the settlers appear to be so discouraged by them, that the outlay would be justified if the fires could in this way be pi evented. The question of damage to property by sparks from railway engines is one of considerable difficulty. In the absence of proof of negligence the sufferer has no remedy, and as settlement increases the number of such claims against the department will grew. If claimants be compensated without the judgment of a Court there will hi suspicion of favoritism ; on the other hand, if there is to be no assistance without such a judgment, many deserving settlers •will suffer great injury, if they be not wholly runed, through no fault of theirs. Your Excellency's advisers might consider the advisability of placing a small tax on property adjacent to the railway lines for the purpose of compensating such sufferers, being in the nature of an insurance It would not press heavily •on contributors. It could be collected by the local authorities and handed over -to the department without expense to it. If a fund derived from such a source existed, compensation could be given under proner safeguards without the necessity of Court proceedings, which must in the great majority of cases be fruitless. Your commissioner is 'fully"" aware that there are grave objections toN the of _ such ;a system of compensating those injured, and submits- the suggestion with diffidence. It would, however, be an attempt to solve a difficult problem. By placing the loss on all exposed to the risk instead of on single, individuals much hardship would be avoided. Smoking on piatforms or other parts of a train except in the smoking carriage should be entirely prohibited. In the smoking carriages there should be receptacles for cigar ends and used matches. There should be a by-law, if such be not already in force, making it an offence to throw such articles from the trains, and notice of this with the penalty for non-observance should be posted

in the smoking carriages."