A BURNING QUESTION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19541, 30 March 1926, Page 8

A BURNING QUESTION

DOMINION’S FERE LOSSES. AN UNENVIABLE RECORD. “PREVENTION WEEK” SUGGESTED. The great loss by fire in New Zealand as compared with other countries was dealt with by the Inspector of Fire Brigades, Captain T. Hugo, in the course of an address before the annual Fire Brigades’ Conference in Dunedin. Quoting from the September issue of the journal “Fire” he said the loss by fire in Great Britain and Ireland for 12 months amounted to about £10,285,716, or approximately 4s 4d per head of the population, while the estimated lire loss in New Zealand for the corresponding period was £1,150,000, or approximately 17s per head-nearly four times the amount lost in Great Britain. Although the huge fire loss in New Zealand was frequently referred to in pnnt and otherwise, he said, the main factor in that loss was seldom mentioned. As a consequence some people might ascribe it to the inefficiency of the fire brigades, but he wished to state emphatically that the true factor was the abnormally excessive number of outbreaks of fire which occurred in this small country. The majority of these outbreaks could easily be prevented. Many of them were due to sheer carelessness, and but for the general efficiency of the brigades the loss would be very much greater—even disastrous. Drag on National Resources. Referring to the article in “Fire,” to which he had previously alluded, Captain Hugo quoted: “Can any nation afford this continual drag on its resources? No one is so foolish as to asumc that a stage of civilised life can be reached in which there will be no outbreak of fire, but none will deny that by increased fire protection in the form of care and better organisation, a paid personnel, and more modern appliances, the lire loss would be materially reduced. The startling feature of it ail is that none of tho members of the Government seem to recognise the great wastage caused by uncontrolled fires. There must be a general awakening. The question of over-in-surance, too. must be considered, and last, but not least, legislation on fire inquests. ’ ’ Apathy of the Public. Both question and arguments, he continued, applied to New Zealand in their entirety, and with greater force in view of the very much higher proportion of loss. Could the nation allow this continual drag on its resources? Th-t was the question which he had been asking in New Zealand for y-ars past, and judging from the apathy of the public in general toward this burning question it would appear that they thought it could. The most essential factor in the reduction of the national fire loss was a better and more general education of school children, the public generally, and fire officers in particular in the knowledge of fire prevention. He had repeatedly brought this matter before, conferences, citing what bad been done in other countries in their efforts to reduce the huge fire losses, but he was afraid the result had been small. Appeal Made in America. The President of the United States issued a proclamation m September 20 in which he said, “The 1 me has arrived for the annual resurvey of the nation’s enormous wastage alike in human life and property, and for the annual appeal for the lessening of this huge loss. The waste results from conditions which justify a sense of shame and horror and which ought to i (have been prevented. For the most ‘recent comparable period the fire losses in Great Britain are calculated at not Jess than one dollar per capita per annum, while those of the United States are placed at approximately five dollars per capita. Comparisons with other European countries are similarly to our discredit. Therefore, I recommend that the week beginning on /Sunday, October 4, be observed as a ■national fire-prevention week. To the city and municipal officials, civic I organisations, school authorities, and .all citizens and organised bodies, I appeal for the fullest co-operation in im- | proving the conditions.” r i In view of the fire loss conditions ■ obtaining in New Zealand, and the r urgent need for some such step, why, t asked Captain Hugo, was a similar |week not inaugurated in New Zealand?