FIRE-WATCHING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20865, 18 August 1942, Page 5

FIRE-WATCHING

MODIFICATION SUGGESTED POLICY TO "Si REVIEWED A statement that the whole policy of fire-watching of buildings was to be reviewed by Mr. A. D. Wilson, a fire service expert from England, was made in Wellington by the Minister of Civil Defence, .the Hon. W. A. Bodkin. A suggestion that fire-watching duty might be modified without undue risk was made by the managing director of C. M. Banks, Limited, in a letter received bv the Wellington Chamber of Commerce. Most firewatchers. the writer stated, were finding the duty very tedious and irksome, specially during daytime on Sundays. The secretary, Mr. E. M. Bardsley, said he had replied stating that the whole question of fire-watching had been discussed by the chamber several times and any action or lack of action had been dictated solely with a view to co-ordinating ample protection with minimum inconvenience. Mr. Bardsley's action was confirmed. Christchurch Opinion “In Wellington and Auckland there is continuous fire watch'ing, and the people are fed up to the neck as far as I can hear,” said the Mayor of Christchurch, Mr. Andrews, in stating that there was to be no change in the Christchurch fire watching system, which does not require continuous watching. He said the Christchurch system could be called into action in a few minutes and he did not intend to change it. The proposals for, continuous fire watching were impracticable for the personnel was not available to carry' it out. Referring to Wellington and Auckland, Mr. Andrews said that it was coming to a state in those cities where the system was breaking down of its own weight.

The National Service Department had issued instructions for continuous fire watching, but it was no use giving instructions to carry out the impossible, apart from .the foolishness of it.