INQUIRIES INTO FIRES

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 48, 26 February 1913, Page 3

INQUIRIES INTO FIRES

CHRISTCHURCH, 23rd Feb. At this morning's sitting of the Fire boards' Conference the very important subject of holding inquests into fires was raised. Auckland delegates proposed that section 46 of the Fire Brigades Act should be amended to provide for the payment of the expenses of Coronet's' inquests. In support, it was said that an inquest might be held by a tire board, but no provision was made for payment of costs. It was felt that either the board or the Government should foot the bill. . Testimony by delegates from Dunedin and Christchurch was that where Coroners had been asked to hold inquests into fires they bad been held and no request made for payment. Mr. T. Chalmers (Dunedin) said he would like to urge _ the holding of systematic enquiries into the cause of fires. He felt it would do a great deal of good in eliminating fires and exposing the causes. He quoted a Home autho' rity to the effect that the holding of inquests was a great preventive of arson and fraud on insurance companies. It led people to be more careful in dealing with fire 3in both business and private places. The police would not ask for an inquiry into a. fire unless they deemed there were suspicious circumstances, but his board took a more charitable view of the case and thought a, great many fires were due, not to criminal intent) but to what might be termed criminal carelessness in construction, or the carrying on of works in unsuitable buildings, and bad storage methods. The specific proposal that provision should be made for payment of inquest costs was lost.,