CORRESPONDENCE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 49, 27 February 1942, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE

FIRE WATCHERS AND COMPENSATION

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —Please advise through your columns what is the legal position regarding compensation if a compulsory fire-watcher suffers serious injury or death in the course of his duties.—l am, etc., WATCHER. Those who are enrolled as compulsory service fire watchers are members of the E.P.S., and as such are entitled to the compensatory benefits provided by part of the Finance Act (No. 4), 1940. All fire watchers should be legal members of the E.P.S. The compulsory clauses of the regulations in force in Wellington apply to men between the ages of 18 and 66, but the Emergency Reserve Corps Regulations, covering the whole Dominion, require that all persons be utilised, if necessary, as fire watchers, women as well as men, and while it is not proposed to call on the services, compulsorily, of women .and > girls for fire watching, all males who are in receipt of income from any building are required to make themselves available for fire watching (with the exception of those who produce medical certificates, or signed exemption chits, or who are members of the armed forces). Men of 18 years and not more than 66 years of age are required to register in the E.P.S., and so are covered by the compensatory clauses. There remain the women and girl watchers and youth watchers, many of whom have volunteered for a service which they will be well capable of carrying out. To gain the benefit of compensation in case of possible injury, such fire watchers should voluntarily enrol in the E.P.S.