FIRE BOARDS CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 48, 26 February 1913, Page 10

FIRE BOARDS CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES

firr ielegbaph:— pbess association.) ' CHRISTCHURCH, -23th Feb. ■ The annual conference of 'representatives of the Fire Boards of the Dominion was held to-day. Mr. A. L. -Parsons (Christchurch) ' was elected chairman of the conference. A remit proposing to amend section 11 in. the direction of making it impossible for an insurance manager lo continue to occupy a position on a. board after, he had resigned from his managership of the company he represented was carried. The Auckland Board proposed : "To amend section 21 co that the Government, ehall be liable to the greater portion of the expenditure." It was mentioned that in Australia the proportion paid by the Governments was one-third. Here the Government paid to each of the large boards only £200 per year, which was held to be absurd. It was agreed that a suggestion should be mad© to the Government that tho Australian system oe adopted here. Auckland delegate* desired that steps should bo taken to establish Dominion uniformity of wages. . Mr. Michel said he thought it would bo quite impossible to establish any scale of wages that could apply all over New Zealand. Many of the smaller •boards were dependent on volunteers, and it would be a pity to trench upon that system. In the meantime no uniformity could be secured outside the four centres. The Chairman said that the conditions in the four centres were so different that it was extremely difficult to secure uniformity. He agreed that the subject should bo' dropped as the difficulties were insuperable. "That the Fire Brigades Act be amended bj? the substitution of 'twenty' in lieu of 'teii* at the end of the fourth line of sub-section 4 of sec* lion 6 of the Fire Brigades Act Amendment, 1908, so as to increase boards' borrowing powers to £20,000." Mr. T. \ Chalders (Dunedin) moved this motion, whicb^ was adopted. Christchurch Board advanced a remit to define a board's liability for damage done by or to its plant when i the same is proceeding to or from a(| fire upon an alarm being given. The Chairman referred to a recent case and judgment given by Mr. Justice Denniston, and the advice given by counsel that leave to appeal should be applied for. Tho point arose as to whether a superintendent ' being in command under statutory authority and not then under command of the board, .was not himself . responsible rather than the board. Another point was that,' granting the liability to be the board's, its extreme liability should brf defined in amount Mr. T. ChalderG said that in Dunedin the fire brigade had absolute command of the road, and was not governed by bylaws'. The opinion was expressed that this rfimib was the most difficult of all those brought up, Mr. Chalders suggeatod that the remit should be amended, to read "to limit the board's liability for damage done by or through • the; negligence of Hi servants to a sum not exceeding £500." This was agreed to and adopted. It was agreed that the ' chairman, Mr. A. L. Parsons/ should lay all the remits before the Minister of Internal Affairs at Wellington next week.