FIREMEN WHO ENLIST.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 617, 1 February 1916, Page 11

FIREMEN WHO ENLIST.

QUESTION OF MAKING UP PAY. CITY COUNCIL AND EIRE BOARD. The question whether the Christchurch City Council should make suggestions to the Fire Board regarding the hitler's treatment of members of the Fire Brigade who enlist was debated by the coueil last evening. In accordance with notice, Cr McCombs moved:—"Thai the attention of the Christchureh, Fire Board be drawn to the fact that the City Council is paying all its employees who have gone to the front the difference between the military allowance and their wages as City Council employees, the Sunday pay and the 1/per day separation allowance for married men not being counted, and that as the City Council is one of the largest contributing bodies the council respectfully suggest that the Fire Board should follow the same policy." Me pointed out that the motion was not one of dictation to the Fire Board, but only drew the board's attention to the. very line example which the council had set. Uniformity in this matter should be aimed at. If the council was justified in doing the thing itself it was justified in recommending another local body to which it contributed very largely that that other local body should follow its excellent expmple. Mr Burgoyne seconded the motion. The Mayor opposed it, because there was no parallel between the two bodies. The Fire Board had gone In considerable expense in providing up-to-date fire stations and plant, and il h:>d done its utmost to train the men to be efficient fire lighters. It was not reasonable to deprive the board of its trained men, who were of such great importance to the safely of the city. The 18 men who had enlisted from the board's staff were all short-service men, averaging only four months' service, whereas the council's employees who had enlisted were men of from two years service to 15, and the could not be put on the same footing as the latter. He hoped that the council would leave the Fire Board to manage its own business. It would be wrong for the board to offer any inducement at the present moment to its best men to go to the front. Cr McCullough: Do I understand that the safety of the Empire is of less importance than the safety of Christchureh? That we should ask these men not to go to the front, but ask others with equal or greater responsibilities to go? The Mayor: No. There is nothing to prevent their going, but we should not offer any inducement to them to go. Cr McCullough replied that then the council should not ask any of its staff to go. If the principle evolved by the council for its own employees were correct, then not only the Fire Board should carry it out, but other local bodies as well. Cr Williams considered that the Fire Board was quite capable of managing its own affairs. The council certainly paid nearly half the amount of the cost of upkeep of the brigade, but Ihe fire insurance companies paid -practically the other half. They treated their employees in precisely the same way as the council. Why was it right to suggest to the fire insurance companies that they should spend more money in making up the pay of firemen who desired to enlist? The question rested entirely with the Fire Board. After further discussion, on much Ihe same lines as that; which had already taken place, the motion was lost, nine voting for it, and seven against. The division list was:—For the motion, Crs Herbert, Sullivan, McGombs, Peek, McCullough, Millar, Burgoyne; against, Crs Cooper, Hayward, Reynolds, Taylor, Beanland, Williams, Jameson, Scott, and the Mayor.