SPLENDID WORK

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 75, 30 March 1939, Page 11

SPLENDID WORK

MINISTER'S TRIBUTE TO

FIREMEN

A tribute to the work of the firemen engaged on the Victoria Street fire was paid by the Minister-of Internal Affairs (the Hon. W. E. Parry) yesterday.

"By their splendid work," said Mr. Parry, "they succeeded in saving nearby properties valued at thousands of pounds, and which, at every minute of the progress of the blaze, were in real danger of destruction.

"With the many thousands of spectators gathered at all vantage points, I watched the men, with heavy odds

against them, tackle their task. The splendid judgment and science in firefighting they displayed, often at great risk of personal safety, was apparent to all spectators, whose admiration the men deserved."

The fire brigades of Wellington and [Auckland had had some difficult and disastrous outbreaks to deal with lately, said the Minister. "Reports to me as the member of the Government responsible for the administration of the Act under which the brigades work," added Mr. Parry, "show in most cases the fires had unhappily obtained a tremendous hold before being discovered, which feature gave the men of the brigades their great tasks. It is not in saving a particular burning building that the work of the brigadesmen is judged. It is their ability to .confine the blaze to its originating area, and I feel that those who suffered such heavy losses in last night's fire and the public will award-the brigadesmen full commendation for their great work."