New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-11-14
TO BAR PARLOR MATCHES.
STORAGE PERMITS NOT TO BE ISSUED
AFTER JANUARY l.
LICENSES FOR SALE OF EXPLOSIVES
BE CAUSED BY MISTAKE IN CHARTER

BE CAUSED BY MISTAKE IN CHARTER
The Fire Department officials have decided to
stop the sale Of parlor matches in this city.
They have given warning that after January l
no permits for the storage or sale of parlor
matches viii be issued from the Bureau of Com
bustibles. At the same time it has been dis
covered that. owing to a muddle in legislation,
no permits of the Bureau of Combustbles
garding the storage or sale of explosives In the
city are Of any legal value Every drug or
grocery firm in town that deals in anything Of
explosive character is violating the strict letter
OF the law. even under the Fire Departments
sanction Manufacturers who use explosive
materials such shellac and varnsh. in
the same dilemma.
Nobody is In danger Of being arrested for vio-
lating the strict letter while complying with
the spirit OF the law, but the danger to business
interests lies in the fact that fire insurance
companies may be exempt from paying losses
caused by fires in buildings where anything in
the category of explosives has been stored
used A hat factory might burn down, and
the insurance companies might decline to pay
the losses because some shellac was used on
the premises Most insurance policies contain
provision which declares that the fire insurance
company shall be exempted from payment of
loss II any business is conducted in violation Of
the law. A strictly technical violation would
be as effective any other in shielding FIRE
insurance company.
A MIDDLE IN LEGISLATION.
The muddle in legislation hangs in part on a
printers blunder. The legislature at its session
In 1901 passed a substitute for Section 769 of
the city charter. which deals with the storage
of explosives. BY mistake. the original Section
$50 WAS included -arasng the acts amended
which were TO continue in force until changed
by the Board of Aldermen. No action was taken
by the Board OF Aldermen 10 change the original
section and put the new section into effect until
May Is last. when the board passed an elab-
crate ordinance which provided, among other
things, for the appointment OF a Municipal Ex-
plosive Commission, and decreed that no ex-
plosives, and liquids chemicals capable
OF exploding. should be stored in any place in
the city except under such regulations as the
Municipal Explosives Commission shall pre-
scribe" This ordinance went into effect on
June Is. The members of the Municipal Ex-
plosives Commission have been appointed but
they have prescribed no regulations, and there
fore all storage OF anything explosive within
the city is in violation of the ordinance
About two months before the Board of Alder
men acted. the Fire Commissioner adopted regu-
lations for the storage and use of explosives
In harmony with the provisions of the new sec
ton OF the charter. which owing TO the printers
mistake. already mentioned had not gone into
effect. In these regulations provision is made
for permits TO he issued for the storage and
sale of matches in limited quantities. and the
provision is against ANY parlor matches" or
amy matches that have a chlorate mixture for
the igniting material and will readily ignite on
any but a specially prepared surface" At the
same time the permits to allow the storage
a Of tbar, Dtyy-
five pounds OF sulphur matches. and not more
than fifty pounds of safety matches
Inasmuch the Fire Commissioner did not
want to infct needless loss upon dealers who
had small stocks of parlor matches on hand, the
permits have been stamped as follows
Pp0T %Ttehfs fbe G ss ed By this permit to
that date safety and sulphur matches only. par
lor matches
Now there comes up question as to the en-
forcement of the Fire Commissioners regula-
tions. Two committees of the Board of Trade
and Transportation are to have meeting this
afternoon 10 talk over the situation Frank s
Gardiner. secretary of the Board of Trade and
Transportation. said last evening that he
thought the Fire Commissioners regulations
adopted early in March, had been repealed by
the ordinance of the Board OF Aldermen. passed
in May Permits of the Bureau of Combusti-
bles issued under the Fire Commissioners regu
lations. may not save people from loss Of fire
insurance. because of the failure of the Munich
pal Explosive Commission to prescribe new reg
ulations. II people sell or store matches or
other explosive things, without the permits
however, they will be in danger of fines In
case of loss of life by explosion of anything
not covered by a permit. arrests for murder
might follow. People who sell use explosives
therefore, are Obliged. for their own protection
TO get permits which at present of no strict
legal value.
Y
The only apparent way out of the muddle is
for the Municipal Explosive Commission 20 meet
and prescribe the regulations already adopted
by the Fire Commissioner. Fire Commissioner
Sturgis is ex-officio a member of the commits
sion other members are George Easton Will
lam ]. Charlton. Charles McKenna and ]. a.
Haskell
Inspector Murray of the Bureau of Combus-
tibles said last evening that the regulation
against parlor matches. and against all matches
OF the chlorate variety that ignite with a snap
and a fash when struck against any surface
was adopted because of the increase OF fires in
the city due TO the Of such matches.
Last year. he said, Il 900 fires In the city
were traced TO parlor matches. 1t is a common
thing when q parlOr match Is struck for the
head TO fly of and set fire to something at
distance. Many elevator fires in fiathouses are
against the use OF such matches in the city that
they 1900 fires in buildings in the city in
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