The herald., 1895-03-17
THE MAYORS VETO

The Mayor Will hand in the following
veto:
The ordinance to amend an ordinance
entitled IAN ordinance providing for the
. inspection of steam boilers and elevators,
etc., approved November II, 1894 is
hereby returned without my approval for
reasons set forth below:
1t is the province of the city govern
ment in all matters pertaining partictl-
inrly to city affairs and control, to pro-
tect, so far as is possible. by municipal
legislation, the lives and property OF the
people; the object of the ordinance which
it is proposed now to amend is the pro-
lection OF the citizens of Los Angeles
from the danger of boiler explosions by
ordinance requiring an inspection OF
every boiler in the city by the. City Boiler
Inspector.
The purpose of section 81 of the
amendment to the ordinance, is to ex-
empt from such inspection by the city
inspector all boilers which are insured by
a guarantee boiler inspection company or
other insurance company maintaining a
regular corps OF inspectors of their own
!nasmuch as the proper inspection OF
boilers is matter that closely concerns
the lives and welfare of many of our
people, it does not seem to me that the
city should wholly abdicate its rights in
favor OF ans private corporation whose
interests are as much of pecuniary ma
ture as they are responsibility to the
owner. The insurance companies are
residents OF other cities, and their in.
spectors are in no way responsible to e
city nor can the city control them
or require the work to be done
in any particular manner in compliance
with the requirements of the ordinance.
am inf rmed that the insurance com
panies make four inspections per year of
nm hfnI hat l. Al.
nance could be SO amended that at least
one OF these four inspections should BE-
made by the city inspector. am OF the
opinion that it would meet with hearty
approval and also find hearty Endorsement
among the owners of boilers themselves
Such II requirement would surely with
in the bounds of reason. and ought to be
Insisted upon by the city authorities. The
expense ol having one inspection by
city official would be no greater than if
made by an inspector of the insurance
rompany's own choosing. With the other
three Inspections exacted by the insurance
tho ordinance need not interfere but the
city should require that at least one in
spection should bc made by It's own in
spcctor, who is accountable to the city for
the faithful performance of his duty.
a The first interest to be served by the
ordinance is safety to the people. The
periodical inspection by the city in
spcctcr adds to that SAFETY by another
mans eyes, another mans Judgment,
other than the one selected by the insur
ance company whose employees have no
particular interest in the work beyond re-
tanning their places in the faithful per-
Torrance OF their duty. I am therefore
Of the opinion that tho city ought not in
justice to itself as municipal corpora
ton, and to the safety of its people, re-
linguisl its supervision over any boiler in
the city. The evident purpose OF the
ordinance is to make the board OF en-.
ginccrs self-sustaining out of the fees re-
ccived for boiler inspections and licenses
to engineers.
The exemption of any number of boil
ers from the penalties of the ordinance
would certainly have a tendency to cripple
the service by reducing the income of
the board below it's actual expenses
The amendments to section three pro-
ylding for reduction of the renewal fee
Of engineers licenses to 81 seems to be
lust and proper and could be adopted
without injury to the service or detriment
10 the other provisions OF the ordinance.