The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-02-05
CORONERS, TAKE Heed.
You Must Sit on Fires if
Mr.. Barrett's Bill
Passes.
AND CITIES MUST FOOT THE BILLS.
Neat Scheme of Insurance Com
panies to Save Money and
Saddle the Expense On
the Public.
AND CITIES MUST FOOT THE BILLS.

A bill which has created considerable
amusement among fire officials in this
city was introduced in the Legislature by
Senator Barrett a few days ago at the
instance of the fire insurance companies
doing business in this State. 1t Is
entitled IAN act to provide for an inves-
tigation into the origin of fires" and by
reason of this u~nassuming title attracted
very little attention until a copy of the
measure, which is still in the hands of
the Committee on Municipal Corpora
lions, was recently handed Superintend-
ent Brown.
After providing that it shall be the
Department to make immediate, personal
investigation Of the cause, origin and
circumstances of every fire in which prop
erty has been destroyed in such municip-
ality, the measure confers upon the Chief
power to enter premises, and sets forth:-
1T shall be the duty of such officer to
make immediate report in writing to the
municipal clerk, on blanks to be provided
by the State Commissioner of Banking
and Insurance, setting forth the date of
each fire, its probable origin, the amount,
kind and character of the prOpert de-
stroyed, the amount of insurance, if any,
and whether, in his opinion, such fire was
accidental or not"
The Municipal Clerk is required to re-
cord such reports as received, aud trans
nit an annual summary of such fires to
the State Commissioner, The Chiefs of
paid fire departments shall receive no
additional compensation for those SER
vices. but in volunteer departments he
ma charge 81 for each report so made.
ORK FOR THE RON
The portion of the proposed law which
has excited amusement, is a provision re-
quiring inquests to be held in the case of
fires supposed to be of incendiary origin.
When the Chief. in his opinion, believes
the fire to have been caused by
to make application in writing to any
coroner of the county. for an inquest to
be held to make inquiry relative to the
cause of such fire; that it shall be the
duty of such coroner to forthwith proceed
to hold sucn inquest. and tuat for the
purposes of such investigation, coroners
shall possess all the powers now conferred
upon them by law in regard to inquests
upoD dead bodies, n shall be paid the
same fees as on such inquestS.
The jury. after being sworn, shall view
the place where the fire was or was at
tempted; shall hear witnesses, and shall
certify their finding, in writing, as to how
Univ AhS AoRpOECo vi 0o /
all attending circumstances, and who was
or were guilty thereof either as principal
or accessory. and in what manner; ii the
jury are unable to ascertain the origin or
circumstances Of such fire they shall find
and report accordingly.
The superlative intelligence of some of
the Coroners of this county is what excites
the risibles of the Fire Department off
Gals in connection with Senator Barrett's
bill, but other provisions which follow,
are not regarded as being either amusing
or wise.
ARRESTS MAY FOLLOW.
1t is required by the proposed law, that
the Coroner. if the jury finds the fire was
designedly set to arrest the accused by
due process, and commit him or them for
Grand Jury action, and also TO bind over
witnesses. aud shall have full power to
examine the arrested parties as now pos
sessed by Justices of the peace in GRIM
manner
All evidence shall be reduced to writ
ing and returned to the following Grim
inal Court of Record of such county.
"And be it enacted" adds the bill,
that the costs and expenses and fees
of the treasury of the municipal
ity in which said fire &C.
Cured, when a certificate of the
performance of said service, and the fees
therefor shall have been presented to the
treasurer or other financial officer of said
municipality, and the same have been
audited and approved"
NO CAUSE FOR ENTHUSIASM.
The effect OF this clause can be well
imagined, and it is not sur
prising that city officials gen.
orally are not wildly enthusiastic
over the proposed measure, which
| repeats all laws Inconsistent with its pro-
| visions, and contemplares immediate
effect. The fire authorities claim that
the County Coroners are not the proper
officials to conduct such inquiries, and
they regard the bill as an excellent one
for the insurance comprehensive will
derive all the benefit at public expense.
The bill will come up Tuesday afternoon.