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20. Table 111 attached, which covers fire districts existing when the Act was passed, shows that the cost in these districts has increased by £38,182 as compared with the previous financial year. This increase is to a small extent due to general increases in prices, but in the main to the increased costs of the permanent staff. The effect of the first year's operation of the Act will therefore be as follows : Government. —Statutory payments under the Fire Brigades Act, 1926, amounted to £5,060. In addition, Government met the administrative costs and provided special subsidies for protection of certain Government property. These two items involved an expenditure of approximately £16,000. An increased cost to Government of approximately £63,000 is therefore involved in the estimates approved for 1950-51. Underwriters. —The costs to the underwriters in respect of the Fire Board districts calculated in terms of the Fire Brigades Act, 1926, would have amounted to £243,721 on the current estimates (half of £492,502, less Government contribution of £5,060). The total estimates of all districts for the year 1950-51 therefore involved an increased contribution of £37,983, but this not only covers an additional 118 districts, but is also spread over a considerably wider insurance field. Local Authorities. —Local-authority payments in Fire Board districts had the Act not been passed would have been £243,721. The saving to local authorities in these districts, which are set out in Table 111, is £46,720. In the newly constituted districts all costs have hitherto been borne by the local authority, supplemented in the case of some of the smaller districts by voluntary contributions to the local fire brigade. Most of the estimates as approved show a considerable increase in these districts over previous years. Despite this increase, the contributions now made by the underwriters and by Government will result in a substantial saving to the Local Authorities. 21. When the legislation was under consideration by the interested parties in 1947, the costs of the service were estimated at £25,000 in newly constituted fire districts and the same amount in the larger number of secondary fire districts. It will be seen from Table IV that the fire-district costs are higher than was estimated. This is partly due to the increase in general prices since 1947 and partly to the inclusion in a number of estimates of non-recurring items of capital expenditure payable from revenue. So far as the secondary fire districts are concerned, the estimates for which are shown in Tables Va and Vb, the effect of keeping the estimates within the £3OO limit except in the larger towns and making all major capital expenditure from loan has been to keep the expenditure well within the 1947 estimates. 22. The estimates of the Council itself are shown in Table VI. It will be noted that nominal provision only has been made this year for carrying out the duties of the Council with respect to the training and co-ordination of the service. This saving is offset by the inclusion of items of £9,000 under section 49 for capital requirements of secondary fire districts and £3,000 under section 48 for grants to assist in the establishment of brigades in these districts. 23. The Council has interpreted its duty in the approval of estimates under the Act to be to lead rather than to drive and to interfere as little as possible in the policy of the Urban Fire Authorities as disclosed in the estimates. The submisson of estimates and accounts in standard form has enabled the Council to obtain an overall picture of fireservice costs and to make comparisons of the expenditure in districts of similar size both as to total and with respect to individual items. It is clear from this survey that there is a limit to the extent to which service costs can be standardized. In addition to the variation in service conditions arising from factors such as the area and contours of the district, nature of the water-supply, &c, the capital costs will largely depend on whether the brigade has been established at pre-war costs or is to be housed and equipped at the much higher prices ruling to-day.

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