H.—29

VIII

and it was decided to drown the hold. When this was partially effected, however, the ship took such a serious list that it was resolved to send the passengers ashore at Plymouth, and the ship was beached and the hold filled up. The water being subsequently pumped out, the voyage was continued to London, where the hold was entered and cleared. " Rimutaka," s.s. (Exhibit No. 35, pp. lxiii-lxviii.) The steamship " Rimutaka " loaded a cargo of New'Zealand produce for London, where she arrived on Friday, the 22nd June, 1906. On Saturday night, the 23rd June, the day after the vessel had berthed in the Victoria Dock, a fire broke out in the after-hold. The cargo in the upper 'tween-decks had been discharged, and the seat of the fire was ascertained to be in the lower hold amongst the cargo which had not at that time been reached. The ship's chemical engine was set to work on the outbreak being discovered, and, according to the statement of the ship's officers, had practically smothered the fire, but at this juncture the shore fire brigade arrived on the scene, and, in spite of the remonstrances of the officers of the ship, removed the hatches and poured water into the hold through the hatches. The result was far greater damage by water than by fire, The fire was eventually subdued, and the discharge of the cargo proceeded. In 1894 a Select Committee of the Legislative Council of New Zealand was set up to investigate the shipping of wet wool. The report of the Committee will be found in Exhibit No. 1, p. 1. The report was to the effect that, although spontaneous combustion might arise in bales of wool shipped in a wet condition, yet the Committee had not been able to obtain any direct evidence of wool having been seen in flames or in a state of glowing combustion. ■ Prior to the loss of the " Pitcairn Island " and the outbreaks on the steamships L ' Perthshire," " Gothic," and " Rimutaka," fires on board ship which had been attributed to spontaneous combustion were normal, and did not call for special comment. A special committee of Lloyd's, which was appointed on the 26th November, 1903, to consider the question of fires on ships, collected a considerable amount of valuable information on the subject, and reported to Lloyd's. This report will be found in Exhibit No. 22, p. xlvii, and is of a most interesting nature. The recurrence in a short space of time of fires in vessels laden with New Zealand produce caused alarm among underwriters, shippers, and shipowners, and on the 31st July, 1903, the Secretary of Lloyd's, London, wrote to the Secretary of the Board of Trade, London. This important letter, which has special reference to vessels loaded with wool coming from New Zealand, may be found in Exhibit No. 27, p. H. Another important letter which calls for attention is one written by the Produce Commissioner in. London to the High Commissioner for New Zealand, in which he states that " the occurrence within a short space of time of the series of fires on board vessels carrying cargo from New Zealand has caused widespread concern in shipping and commercial circles." (Exhibit No. 9, p. xx.) Causes of the Fires. In dealing with the probable causes of fires, it will be necessary to separate the classes of cargo in which it has been presumed that the outbreaks occurred. Flax and Tow. Throughout the whole of the investigations of your Commissioners, no single case of spontaneous combustion has been indisputably proved to have taken place in either flax or tow. On the contrary, the weight of evidence has been to prove that spontaneous combustion has not occurred in flax or tow. We have already drawn attention to the evidence of SirJJames Hector in Exhibit No. 1, p. ii: ' There is no record of any was clearly proved to have originated from combustion of phormium fibre in bales." In the course of a report by the Produce Commissioner to the High Commissioner for New Zealand in London on the subject of the fires which had taken place in vessels carrying cargoes of wool, flax, and tow, he writes (Exhibit No. 9), " It is satisfactory to report that the hemp cargo, which has generally borne a bad character for damage