FIRE LOSSES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19904, 25 September 1926, Page 12

FIRE LOSSES.

The elimination of fire waste i* a matter that is exercising thoughtful minds in all countries. Its. economic significance is measured by the fact that conservation of wealth and expansion of production furnish the recognised solution of the stupendous problems with which the world is everywhere confronted. The loss by fire throughout the Dominion during the year 1925, according to reliable estimates, totalled more than one million sterling, or an amount equal to 15s 3d per head, of the population. This fact was put in its proper light in the annual report of the State Fire lusurance office, in which it was pointed out that fire waste is an irreparable loss, and that fire insurance is merely a method of distributing some part of that loss in the form of a tax on the insuring public. The city of Dunedin has had, upon the whole, a favourable experience in respect of fire loss, but, owing to the occurrence of three fires of considerable magnitude in the twelve months ended on June 30 last, it bad a worse record in that period than any of the large centres. Its fire loss totalled nearly £60,000, which is the highest registered here for the past nineteen years, and, for that reason, has caused some concern to the local Fire Board. In the same twelvemonthly period the loss in Christchurch was £35,913, anil in Auckland £26,613. Unfortunately, a certain number of fires are the result of deliberate acts of incendiarism and, equally unfortunately, the responsibility for fires of this description is seldom sheeted home to the offenders. But a large proportion of the fire loss is due to preventable causes—in other words, to sheer carelessness. It was stated in the annual report of the Inspector of Fire Brigades that no fewer than 123 fires last year in the Dominion wore due to such causes as neglect in the use of electric irons, and carelessness in the throwing down of lighted matches and the lighted butts of cigarettes and in leaving live ashes exposed in dangerous places. The matter is one that invites serious attention when the extent of the fire loss, which leaves the community so much the poorer, is considered. There is no cure for fire losses, but prevention is in large part possible, and all that it entails is the exercise of a little more care in what may erroneously be supposed to be things of small importance. It is not merely an individual matter since anyone responsible, however indirectly, for causing a fire, exposes both the property and the lives of others to serious danger. Too much insistence cannot be laid upon the importance of observing ordinary, common-sense precautions for the prevention of fires.