WATER FOR PAPATOETOE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 843, 11 December 1929, Page 10

WATER FOR PAPATOETOE

FIRE CHIEF NOT SATISFIED Considering that the officers and members of the Papatoetoe Fire Brigade had been slighted by the town board, by not being consulted in regard to the reticulation of the district with a water scheme, Superintendent Bradley, waited on the board last evening and registered a forcible complaint. He said the fire-fighting plugs throughout the district were too far apart, making the brigade’s fire-fight-ing equipment obsolete and necessitating the purchase of hundreds of feet of new hose. Plugs had been installed on only one side of the Great South Hoad, which would necessitate the holding up of all traffic on the main road, if a fire, broke out on the other side of the road. Although he had made continued application for a plan of the district showing the fire-plugs, he had been unable to get one. He recommended that a cast-iron plate on a wooden peg be installed to indicate the fire plugs. He maintained that the whole scheme had been put down for a household supply, and the question of fire-fighting had been neglected. He considered that as superintendent of the brigade, he should have been consulted. The chairman of the board, Mr. T. R. Smytheman, said they did not intend to take the superintendent’s remarks sitting down. - The specifications had been drawn up by competent men, and as representatives of the people they had accepted their recommendations. Any alterations necessitated expense and more could not bo spent out of the* loan. He recommended that the superintendent place his suggestions in writing before the brigade committee. Continuing, the chairman said the work had been carried out in the terms of the contract, and if any alterations were found necessary, they would have to shoulder the burden. In reply, the superintendent said the fire brigade committee was rather a joke, as it had only had one meeting in two years, and that lasted only ten minutes. Before retiring Mr. Bradley presented a photograph of the original members of the brigade as a peace offering.