FIRE FIGHTING

Southland Times, Issue 19654, 3 October 1922, Page 5

FIRE FIGHTING

INSURANCE RISK DISCUSSION REPLY TO MR PILCHER The statement made by Mr E. B. Pik W, Invercargill manager of the New Zealand Insurance Company, and published y<nterday morning, touching fire insurance ratee and fire brigade improvements, was referred to yesterday by Mr R. M. Strang, chairmaa of the. Invercargill Chamber of who raised several pointe in connection with the general question of Fire Board control of Invercargill’s fire-fighting organisation. In the course of his remarks Mr Strang said he was sorry Mr Pilcher had not told ! what treatment regarding fire insurance I rates was being meted out to other town* Dunedin. Timaru, and Oamaru, for instancy since they established Fire Boards, so that i Invercargill could see whether it was Isung 1 treated on all fours with these towns. “Wa recognise that there are two sides to every problem,” he said. “That is why we arranged for all the parties interested, the Borough Council, the business people and the insurance companies, to be represented at the first conference we called to discuaa the Fire Board question. But instead lhe insurance companies’ representatives coming to discuss matters with us they camo only with a big stick in their hand* and made only one statement, which Mas that unless the fire-fighting forces were put on a footing that wouuld satisfy them at the expense of the ratepayers of Inverciir* gill they would raise the insurance rates. It is fair to say that at that conference the representatives of both the Borough Council and the Chamber of Commerce tried to get information from them, and I am very pleased to see that at last we are getting something definite in the way of iuforxua* tion, and we welcome it. “According to figures given,” continued Mr Strang, "Invercargill as cu-t the incur* ance companies, from 1916 to 1922, approximately £llO,OOO, or about £20,000 |»er year. I think we could divide the figure more accurately than that. However, that is by the way. Whether by extending the period of six years which the figures cover a result more favourable to Invercargill would be shown I am not prepared to say because the figures given by Mr Pilcher are not available to me. But in connection with the loss over those six year.? I ma aware of one or two facts. It was authoritatively stated to me by the manager of one of the largest insurance companies operating in Invercargill that lhe inefficiency of the fire-fighting arrangement had cost, the insurance companies, in the case of the Crescent fire and Messrs Thomson and Co's, fire, some £40.000 more than they should have been called upon io pay if the fire had been fought in sn up-to-date way. Perhaps Mr Pilcher can confirm or deny this, but it was the statement made to me and I am accepting it. “It will be :een that the enormous sum of £40,000 would have been saved by the insurance companies on two fires alone if they had taken action and a Fire Board had Ixten established t ears ago, because a Fire Board means efficient control and up-to-date equipment. The insurance companies can scarcely fail to admit that efficient control of the Fire Brigade, together with up-to-date equipment, would save them from great losses. It will also he patent to them that the unnecessary losses caused by out-of-date fire fightingtaking all the losses both large and small—would easily have paid their annual subscription towards a Fire Board, and would then have left, them a considerable amount for themselves.” He said it would be argued from a knoweldge of the huge profits Ljade by the insurance companies in New Zealand that if they were losing money so heavily in a town which had no Fire Board control they must be making very substantial profits in towns where Fire Board control existed. He had been told on good authority that wmn of the leading insurance companies had been doing fire business profitably. There were 35 companies in Invercargill. One had opened a branch in the town within the past six or seven months. The larger the number of companies the greater would be lhe competition. But this competition wan merely for the limited fire business available locally, and did not tend to decrease rates, as in the case of true business competition, because the companies were all banded together to fix uniform rates. In view of the number of companies, and the comparatively limited amount of business available, Mr Strang made the suggestion that it might perhaps be good business for those who were not showing a profit in the town to withdraw to some locality where they would be able ro do better. Hegurding Mr Pilcher's statements ab'iul reticulation Mr Strang said Mr ClapcoU, Town Engineer, had challenged what Mr Britton had said about the water mains at the first conference, and had said there were other centres in the north who* reticulation was no better than that of Invercargill; and that some of the mains in these towns were badly corroded. Mr Clapcolt also stated that practically all the business portion of the town was equipped with large main* or mains in duplicate. All the new suburbs which had been recently reticulated had either 4inch, 6inch or 7inch mains. The old residential area south of Tweed street was practically all fed by 3inch mains, which were ample for domestic and fire fighting purposes. It was, however, a characteristic of growing towns that stores and other business premises should be erected in what were formerly residential districts, and it was recognised as impracticable for the Borough Council to provide larger mains to protect there isolated new business premises, as the cost would run into thousands of pounds, and the burden would have to be borne by ratepayers of other districts. Tne position was common to nearly all towns in New Zealand. As regards other town-, it wa« well-known that in Dunedin, for instance, the valuable business property near the wharves was fed by small maim that I were quite inadequate for fire protection. 'I he ! suggestion made by Superintendent Nap.er i was, to Mr Clapcott’s mind, the only fi a-ible one. This was to use Lhe old swimming bath 1 tank at the loot of Tweed street a- a reservoir, and if the Brigade was equippe I with a motor engine with a |.u:np attached, the pressure for th ■ area could be d<*\eloped on the spot in ca>c oi necessiiy. It ww well-known that there was enough water available, but pressure was lax-king to make the water etticMWii as a firc-faghimg force. However, if the water was run into the tank to replace what was drawn out. by the pump of the engine, ample water and pressure would be provided.