REORGANISATION OF FIRE SERVICES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 166, 19 July 1946, Page 4

REORGANISATION OF FIRE SERVICES

DOUBTS EXPRESSED BY WANGANUI BOARD CONFERENCE SHORTLY Reorganisation of the Dominion's fire services is to be discussed at a conference of lire boards and local bodies' delegates to be held at Wellington shortly. The Wanganui Fire Board will be represented at this conference by its chairman, Mr. G. P. Hawkins, and Mr. L. Monkman. “Each time this matter comes before us Mr Girling Butcher (Dominion director) has something different to propose,’’ Mr. Hawkins stated at yesterday's board meeting, when the minutes of a. previous conference were being considered. As he had understood it. Mr. Hawkins said, it had been intended that th" Government should provide 20 per cent, of the cost of the service, but now it appeared that the amount was to be only 5 per cent. The original idea was that the whole thing was to be centralised, and the administrative expenses were to be met out of this fund. The administrative expense was estimated to be 5 per cent. “This administrative expenditure will include the cost of inspectors; how many inspectors will be put on we won’t have any say,” he continued. “We in Wanganui get along efficiently without inspectors causing unnecessary expense. We will be in a worse positioTi than to-day. as we will have no control of our finance. All we will have to do will be to pass accounts.”

Mr. W. M. Falconer: Wasn’t it the original item ion that they would not interfere with the boards? “That's \ dial I thought, but now if. appears there has geen a change," replied Mr. Hawkins. “JUST FIGUREHEADS”

“It looks to me as though they arc trying to take the whole of the control Horn the boards, ’ said Mr. J. F. W. Broad. "We will be just ligureheads.”

“I don’t think much of the idea of having inspectors,” reiterated Mr. Hawkins. “It is going to make the service more costly.”

“I don’t quite agree with that," said Mr. Monkman. “The original suggestion was that superintendents of the metropolitan brigades should be inspectors, a job taking about a month a year for each of them. There was opposition to this, so the controller agreed to separate inspectors.” The inspectors would not be interested in boards like Wanganui, but in outbreaks such as the Taupo fire this year and of small volunteer boards, he added.

Inspectors could be used for a number of purposes, Mr. S. J. Harris opined. Their technical consultations might be of definite value. “There is going to be trouble immediately when inspectors from other brigades come in and say how things should be run,” Mr. Broad declared. “An infusion of ideas is all to the good,” said Mr. Falconer. He could not see*that the centralisation of lire brigades was -going to do any good. Centralisation had certain things to recommend it, but centralisation for the sake of centralisation alone was something they should oppose. There had not been enough reasons advanced to make centralisation of lire brigades necessary, he added, but if adequate reasons were advanced they could support them. “We don’t want to find ourselves in the position of the Harbour Board, With a preponderance of county ratepayers on a lower levy," commented Mr. Hawkins. Discussion closed without any directive being given to the delegates.