SAFETY IN EARTHQUAKE

Taranaki Daily News, 7 March 1934, Page 7

SAFETY IN EARTHQUAKE

BUILDING REGULATIONS GOVERNMENT TO USE POWER PREPARATION OF BY-LAWS WORK FOR LOCAL' BODIES By Telegraph—Press Association. Christchurch, Last Night. That the Government possesses power which it intends to use to draw up model building regulations for all cities likely to be affected by earthquake was made clear by Dr. E. Marsden, Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, in a telephone conversation with a reporter to-day. He said the committee of the New Zealand Standards Institute was drawing up a set of model regulations which it was hoped to have completed in about four months. On the committee were architects, engineers, surveyors, builders and representatives of local bodies. The Prime Minister had given an assurance that if the members reached fairly unanimous agreement model regulations would be applied to all cities boroughs in areas liable to earthquakes throughout the Dominion. The work of drawing regulations was complex and difficult, Dr. Marsden said. Already investigations were being made by a geologist to discover what lessons could be learned from the earthquake on Monday night for the benefit of the committee. The Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes) said the intention of the Government was that local bodies would be given the responsibility of administering the building regulations to minimise the risks of earthquakes without Government supervision. The Government would not reconsider its decision not to proceed with the Building Construction Bill. Supervision of buildings in construction and administration of the regulations were felt to be purely a matter for local bodies, and the Government believed the local bodies were capable of doing the work.