H.—6a

4

Losses throughout the Dominion. —The insured loss throughout the Dominion for the year ended 31st December, 1912, probably underestimated, amounted to £431,896, and compares as follows :— Year ending 31/12/11 £456,489 Average 8 years ending 31/12/11 £425,636 Year ending 31/12/12 £431,836 Loss, year ending 31/12/12 .. £431,836 Decrease .. £24,593 Increase .. .. .. £6,260 Following the same line of deduction as adopted in previous years, and adding 33J pel cent, to the insured loss so as to arrive at the approximate fire waste, the total loss for the year ended 31st December. 1912, is shown to be £575,861, a decrease of £32,791 as compared with 1912, but an increase of £8,346 when compared with the average of the eight preceding years. In this connection an interesting comparison is afforded in a return issued by the Fire Brigade Committee of the London County Council, wherein the monetary loss caused by fires in the County of London during 1912 is stated to have amounted to £421,909, apparently showing that the fire loss throughout New Zealand for 1912 was approximately 38 per cent, more than that incurred in London over an area containing a population of 4,525,000, or four times greater than the Dominion. Appended are the following tables : — 1. Summary of calls attended by each brigade. 2. Fire loss in each district. 3. Annual cost of each brigade. 4. Summary of the causes of fires in each district. 5. Personnel and equipment of each brigade. Also detailed reports dealing with each fire district. I have, &c, Thos. T. Hugo, Inspector of B'ire Brigades.

1. Summary of Fire Calls.

District. Fires. Chimney Fires. Bush, Grass, and Rubbish Fires. False Alarms. Out of District. Totals. Auckland Christchurch Dannevirke Dunedin Feilding Gisborne 87 8G 2 76 13 28 6 18 8 1 15 3 2 27 8 3 12 32 47 1 31 5 10 1 1 1 6 167 159 8 135 17 41 6 3 2 Greymouth H ,milton .. Hastings Hawera Hokitika 1.6 5 2 1 2 16 2 9 7 2] 10 4 2 3 1 1 20 8 2 4 5 32 2 10 7 29 15 7 3 1 3 • ■ Lawrence Maori Hill .. Masterton .. Milton New Plymouth Oamaru Palmerston North Petone Rotorua Tinaaru Whangarei .. 7 1 3 1 3 4 5 1 3 1 3 4 4 Totals 397 60 64 127 30 678