UNIFIED FIRE PROTECTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20986, 24 September 1931, Page 8

UNIFIED FIRE PROTECTION.

The proposal, advanced by the Mayor of Mount Albert, that his borough and Mount Eden should join forces for the purpose of providing fire protection, and make a united fire district, is a domestic question to be settled by the. two boroughs. On a broader issue raised by Mr. Stihvell, it is possible to .approve heartily of the ideas he expressed. The position described, the size of Mount Albert, the value of property exposed to fire risks, and the difficulty and expense of providing adequate safeguards, is not peculiar to that borough. It is typical of what may be found in the territories of other local bodies about the city. Mount Albert is larger than the others, with a greater area to be watched, but is more purely residential than many, and thus escapes the congestion of business premises some display. Yet the risks and difficulties Mr. Stihvell sketched are generally prevalent. In these circumstances the principle of closer co-operation, indeed, if feasible, of complete unification, in fire-fighting equipment commends itself as being sound and desirable. In some instances it has been maintained that individual action would provide adequately protective measures at a smaller cost than association with other bodies could. The Mayor does not think this is so with Mount Albert, and on the grounds of economy as well as efficiency supports the principle of a metropolitan fire board. It is desirable to have a direct annual saving associated with greater efficiency in brigade work, if possible. Yet even in these times, the question should not be viewed altogether from the point of annual cost. A small saving in expenditure, if it threatens to prevent a greater saving from destruction by fire, is ultimately no saving at all. The question is not one to be settled by dogmatic assertion, but by impartial examination, to which Mr. Stilwell's pronouncement points the way.