FIRE RISK

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 32, 7 February 1935, Page 10

FIRE RISK

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—ln spite of the repeated admonitions in your columns some persons of mature years seem to have a lot to learn about' the grave risk of fire in some districts. The writer lives in a popular bay not a hundred miles from Wellington. Last weekend he was obliged to assume a major role in a scene which was pregnant with grave possibilities. Having his attention called to the curious antics of a man who had come inside his garden uninvited, investigation proved that the intruder had taken up his position close in the shelter of a dry hedge. There he had a stove of an old pattern, an open bottle of methylated spirit, and a box of matches. The flames from the stove were shooting- up in ■■ dangerous proximity to the hedge: All the

factors of a first-class conflagration were present. We depend for our water supply on rainwater tanks, arid these were almost empty. We have no fire brigade. It only required the slightest accident to start a fire which could have taken a heavy toll of local properties with little hope of..control. To - meet the needs of visitors a notice was prominently displayed informing the public that boiling water could be supplied, the charges for which were reasonable. Readers can imagine my surprise, not to speak ot indignation, when the intruder became insolent on being enlightened on the grave danger he was causing-by his reprehensible conduct. Can your read-1 ers beat this?—l am, etc., T.J.M.

Titahi Bay.