The Hawera Star. WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 1928. FIRE LOSSES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 2 May 1928, Page 6

The Hawera Star.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 1928. FIRE LOSSES.

Delivered every evening by £> o’oiook in Hawera. Hanaio.. Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham. Mangatoki, Kaponga, Alton, Hurleyville Patea. Waverley, Hokoia, Whakamara, Ohaugai, Meremerd. Frasei Road, and Ararata.

From time to time criticisms of the Dominion's fire losses are made in the Press in other parts of New Zealand. We have been told by travellers that the annual loss through fire is “altogether too high for a young and enterprising country” such as this, and the suggestion was seriously made last..year by the superintendent of one. of the metropolitan brigades that an annual “fire prevention day” should be held for the purpose of instructing the adult public in eommonsense precautions against outbreaks. That suggestion was not adopted, the public evidently not sharing the expert’s faith in the efficacy of such educational “days,” but the feeling of uneasiness has not subsided. There has been a growing tendency on the part, of some communities to urge the holding of inquiries into all fires, and. recently an inquiry was held into the circumstances surrounding the origin of an outbreak in Wellington. Though it is going to extreme lengths to demand an inquiry into all fires of unknown origin, there arc nevertheless good grounds for supposing that such inquiries would have certain beneficial effects. It is usually in cases where

’arson is suspected that inquiries arc ordered, 'but more frequent examinations of the circumstances of origin would probably bring to light more instances of sheer carelessness and.' stupidity than the public at present dreams of and thus forearm many persons who have not figured among the long list of losers merely because they have been fortunate, rather than careful. It has been pointed out many times that however favourable may be the position in regard to insurances, property destroyed by fire is property lost and the public is the poorer by the value of the goods that go up in smoke. The insurance statistics for the year 1926 reveal how serious the fire losses l of the Dominion really arc. That year was a particularly disastrous one, both from the point of view of numbers of fires and the extent of damage to property, but it is not anticipated that the returns for last year will show a much more favourable position. In 1926 a total of £1,127,140 was paid out in insurance as against £1,046,328 in 1924, the highest previous total. A comparative statement of the insurance premiums received by the companies and the fire losses paid out during a term of forty years in New Zealand, discloses a steady increase in the losses by fire, and in 1926 there was the largest percentage of loss in relation to premium income since 19.09, a year which concluded a period marked by particularly heavy losses. "When it is remembered that in 1926 the losses were equal to 59.2 of the premium income, the serious view taken by the authorities can be better understood. The Dominion has gained an unenviable reputation in this particular, though, fortunately for the country’s fair name, statistics of this nature do not receive the attention of such a widespread public as do statistics relating to health, births, deaths and wealth. It is gratifying from a parochial point of view, if no other, ito find that the fire record of Hawera stands' out as one of the bright spots in the gloomy picture painted l by those who criticise from a national standpoint. Within the last I twelve months the underwriters have ''seen fit to listen to the representations jrnado by the Chamber of Commerce for " a reduction of the insurance Tate on

property in the borough, with the result that the saving in premiums made

by the ratepayers has been approximately sufficient to cover the amount contributed out of rates to the maintenance of the Fire Brigade. It has been claimed for the local Fire Board that the high state of efficiency of its plant, combined with the favourable position in regard to water supply, has resulted in the ratepayers obtaining their firefighting plant for • nothing. This is a position which perhaps the majority of ratepayers do not sufficiently appreciate, but it is one which, in justice to the Fire Board which lias been quietly going about its business for a number of years with such happy results, should be mentioned when criticisms of New Zealand’s annual losses are being considered and when the people of the Dominion as a whole are the recipients of the censure of those who view the national situation with concern..