RAILWAYS DEFENCE

Stratford Evening Post, Volume III, Issue 371, 28 June 1935, Page 7

RAILWAYS DEFENCE

DAMAGE TO MILL MAY NOT HAVE BEEN CAUSED BY ENGINE SPARKS £ Press Association. —Copyright Auckland, June 27. The first evidence on behalf of the Railway Department concerning the fire which destroyed the buildings and plant of the Morningside Timber Co. on December 1 was given when the inquiry into the outbreak was resumed to-day. The proceedings are being .held at the instance of the Aucklai.d Metropolitan Fire Board, on behalf of which evidence has been called indicating that the outbreak was caused by a spark from a 'passing locomotive. W. L. Wilson, superintendent of the Metropolitan Fire Brigades, produced a report showing that from November 1, 1934, until January 31, 1935, 20 fires occurred near railway lines for which no cause could be gi/ei*. Of these 13 .had been outbreaks in grass. Stating that he would call expert evidence on the various aspects involved, Mr. V. R. Meredith, for the RailwayDepartment, emphasised that when a grass fire occurred near a railway line following the passing of an engine, it was a natural assumption that the engine had caused the outbreak. This, however, could easily be a totally wrong conclusion.

It was an accepted engineering fact that the spark risk could not be removed entirely and it was purely a question of eliminating the risk as much as possible. Referring to the outbreak at the mill, Mr. Merest.. chimed that there was a definite possibility of someone having dropped a cigarette butt on ■•he property. Percy Angus, locomotive superintendent for the Railway Department, said £41,000 had been expended in the last ten years in experiment..ig with spark arresters and fitting them to engines. Exhaustive tests had been made by railways departments and a new device known as the Waikato arrester had been evolved. The engine which passed the mill before the outbreak was equipped with a grid arrester of the type used in other parts of the world. The hearing was adjourned.