Stratford Evening Post With which is Incorporated “THE EGMONT SETTLER” (Established 1890) TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1934 Fire Losses

Stratford Evening Post, Volume III, Issue 200, 13 November 1934, Page 4

Stratford Evening Post With which is Incorporated “THE EGMONT SETTLER” (Established 1890) TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1934 Fire Losses

AS fire losses in the Dominion | have for many years been i | extremely heavy, there is cause ; I for satisfaction in the annual re- | j port of the inspector of Fire Bri- ; i gades, which records a remark- j | able decrease in losses in the past i {two years. Ihe less by fire m 1 | 1933 was £644,781, which in; I itself exhibited a striking de- j ! dine—one approaching a quar- i i ter of a million—from the losses | lin the preceding year. A survey, t more extended than that provid- 1 ed in this report, shovrs clearly ; that there has been in the most ; "j recent years a gratifying diminu- j i tion in the losses. In the past j I decade the loss, excepting only ■ jin 1923 and the two most re-; ■ cent years for which statistics i are available, was well in excess j of one million pounds a year. It ; reached its peak in 1928 with £1,636,1 18. This disturbing sum represented a loss per head jol population of £ 1 2s 6d for i the year. With it the loss of 8s j 4cl per head for 1933 compares {most favourably. io account I with any degree of authority for , j the decrease in losses by fire i j might be impossible, but one fact, j ! upon which congratulation may ! jbe expressed, is that the period iof economic depression through j which the country has been passl ing has not produced any serious epidemic of fires. As occur- i rences of fires are usually associ- | ated with the experience of bad j times, the decrease in the fire ; losses in the past few years may | be superficially regarded as evidencing the commercial morality of the community, and as affording support to the suggestion that persons whose properties are insured have not attempted to j realise at the expense of the in- | surance companies. There is, ; however, another consideration, j I perhaps slightly less Battering to j the public, which cannot be alto- i gclher disregarded. In recent i | years the insurance companies 1 | have been paying special atten- j i tion to the causes of fires and to the possibility that their origin j may have been deliberately plan- i ned. In five years prior to 1931, ; only thirty-two fire inquests were i held in the Dominion, but in the i next year a system was instituted | j whereby extended inquiries are j ! made by the police into all fires ! in which the possibility of incendiarism is not eliminated or the cause is obscure. This departure together with the vigilance of the j underwriters, will have been not ! without effect in the discourage- : ment of fire-raising . But, what- ! ever the explanation, the de- | j crease in the loss, which always i represents a loss to the commun- ■ ity as a whole, is a matter for ■ thankfulness, i

Cycling By-law Questioned : The Lower Mutt by-law which pro- j liil)its cycling on the bituinou where ! oilier surface is provided on the roads i w;|s common feel upon by Mr IT. P. j Lawry S.M., a( Ihn Lower Mult Court, I Counsel used Iho by-law io try and | enforce the point that a cyclist in a collision case was in the wrong by tiding on the bitumen. “Do you say Hint by-law is good?' remarked Mr j Lawry with a smile; “that would j .moan that, a cyclist could not cycle j across the road.” Counsel hastened to say that ho was nO( lestSßg .the-, validity of the by-law,. Powder in Engine A reward of £25 has been offered by (he Waikato Traffic Control. Group Authority to anyone supplying in for- i illation which will lead to (ho convic i lion of the person who damaged a j traffic inspector’s car at To \waiiiutu j on September 28 (states a Hamilton i correspondent): During the inspect- j tor’s temporary absence from the car j ■ niery powder was pul in the engine’, j The presence of the powder was not I discovered until the car had been run 1 ning for some time. It, was later ! found that damage to the extent of j £GB ’had been done to the engine, j

The Powers of Parliament j A horrifying phase of history was j related by Mr IT. S. E. Turner at | .the conference of Iho Associated | Chambers of Commerce at Christ- 1 church, when illustrating Iho abso J lute sovereignly of Parliament. The | subject under discussion was the paw- i ci's of Ministers of (lie Crown, and j Mr Turin r said l hat it must always; be vcognir.ed Mini Pariiamcnj could j pass any laws. In the reign of Henry j VIIf, he sal*!, if was ordained and en- I acted hv Parliami u| that a Richard | IIos” “should be therefore boiled to j (hash wi(luni) having a.ay advantage j of his clergy.” Parliament, he said, j had authority to do that surf of thing, . but. of course, a Minister could not | do il without (lie nuihority of Purlin j niont. Mr W. Macliiu remarked faceti- | ousiy that no one would object to being boiled to death provided ParPa men t. enacted lhat il should be done, biij- a person would object to being boiied to death on the sole authority of a Minister.