FIRE BRIGADE CONTROL

Wairarapa Daily Times, 3 March 1934, Page 4

FIRE BRIGADE CONTROL

NATIONAL ORGANISATION. PROPOSAL TO BE DISCUSSED. One of the remits to be submitted to the Municipal Conference, to be held in Wellington on the 14tli and 15th of this month, proposes the formation of a National Fire Council to control the fire-fighting services of the Dominion. The proposal is apparently an endorsement of the recommendation made in the annual report on the fire brigades of the Dominion and presented to Parliament last session. This report suggests that, except in the cities and certain other cases, the fire boards at present in existence should be dissolved, and the administration handed back to the local authorities.

The text of the remit, which is sponsored by the Morrinsville Borough Council, is as follows:—(a) “That the Government introduce legislation setting up a National Fire Council to deal with the fire-fighting activities of the Dominion; (b) that the Council be constituted of two members of the local authorities supporting fire-fighting units, two members of the Fire Underwriters, and a chairman who shall be the Government nominee; (c) that the local authorities not already in a fire district submit annually their estimates of expenditure on fire brigades to the National Fire Council for approval; (d) that, after approval, the necessary finance lie found 50-50 by the local authorities an# underwriters; (e) that the Government, in lieu of payment of 10 per cent as under the 'Fire Brigades Act, 1926,’ supply the office accommodation and the secretary to the Fire Council.”

In order to give the insurance companies the share in control of the fire service which is justified by their contribution to its cost, it is proposed that, in lieu of the present representation by the companies on the small local fire board, the financial affairs of the brigades operating in fire districts should be controlled bv a Dominion Board similar to those existing in the Australian States, on which both local authorities and insurance companies would be represented. Among the advantages put forward on behalf of the proposal are: —Saving in administrative expenses; purchase of fire brigade supplies in bulk at reduced prices; standardisation of brigade organisation; co-ordination of fire preventive work; interchange *of plant and equipment between brigades; permanent superintendents of larger brigades available for advice and assistance in the organisation and training of surrounding smaller brigades; temporary transfer of officers or men from the country brigades to tlie city stations for training and fire-fighting experience.