The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-07-28
said buildings or premises or property

|clearly the duty Of the insurance COM
missioner and the chiefs of the fire
departments of every city and town in
the state TO investigate all suspicious
fires and where they were of incen-
diary origin and the evidence could be
obtained to see that the criminals were
prosecuted and punished and it was
the duty Of these officers. to inspect all
buildings within the limits of every
city or town. The inspection Of all
buildings was required to be made at
least once a year while the inspection
OF the buildings within the fire district
nave been performed by the chiefs of
the IRE departments of the cities there
mas been Il decided improvement i'm
the character of the buildings and
their freedom from fires.
The duties as laid down III these
laws might well be considered under
the head of the duties of the insur-
'ance commissioner, the duties of the
city governing body, the duties of the
chiefs of fire departments and the du-
ties of h sheriffs, but / will not take
up your time in going fully into each
one OF these subdivisions. The sheriff
occupies the same relation to his coun-
Ity outside of incorporated cities and
towns that the chief of fire department
occupies to his city or town. They are
10 report all fires with the circum-
stances attending them and where the
nres were OF lncendiary origin to lend
TO the commissioner all aid in his DOW
er III ferreting out the causes of these
fires. 1t vas made the duty of the
city and town governments to elect n
ch1ef Of fire department, to prescribe
his duties and to give him proper COM
~pensatiOn. There is no part of the law
that a been more neglected than this.
Where the authorities have seen fit to
eject a chief Of fire department they
nave III almost all cases failed to give
MN that compensation that would JUS
u1y MIN in Il proper discharge of his
duties. The law makes it the duty of
tne city and town authorities to give
MIN Il proper and reasonable
satlOn and there is no mOun ex-
pended by them in the government of
cities and towns that would be
spent to better advantage than in pay
ing the chief Of fire department for a
proper and careful inspection of build
1ngs within their jurisdiction, and I
trust the tine is not far distant when
this will be realized by the officers
throughout the state and when they
VII feel that the money expended in
looking to the prevention of fires is of
as much and possibly more value than
the money provided for the fighting Of
fires after they are nee started.
FIRE WASTE BILL.
Under the circumstances I do not
feel justified in taking up more of your
time along the line | have been sneak
ing, but L desire especially to talk to
you this evening about the act now in
lorce, the Fire Waste Bill, passed by
the last legislature as an amendment
TO the law creating the office of the
chlef OF fire department. While all of
the law, as referred to above. applies
to each and every Incorporated city and
tOWn in the state, the law added by
the last legislature does not apply to
any city or town in the state that did
not have at least 1000 inhabitants. ac-
cordlng to the last u. S. census. There
are only II Of these cities and towns.
Much has been said in regard to this
and many have charged that it
was a law PISSED entirely in the inter-
OF fire insurance companies. There
never was a greater mistake. 1t is
more to the interest of the citizens of
the state than Of insurance companies.
as 60 per cent. of all the property in
the state destroyed by fire is not in
sured, and the loss is borne by the cit
and not by the insurance com
panies. 1t is a startling fact to think
that more than half of all the property
destroyed in the state by fire is a loss
to the citizens of the state and a loss
to the state, counties and cities in tax
able property. To your association is
due the passage of this law.
Your legislative committee headed by
your president, than whom there is no
more efficient officer in the u. S., met
in Raleigh representatives of the local
home fire insurance companies,
and. after consulting with the COM
missioner as to the merits of this bill,
had it introduced into the legislature.
The main part of the bill is q re-en-
actment of the law that had already
been explained and is an attempt to
prevent fires. All buildings were re-
qulred under it to be inspected and
found dangerous to be put in
pIOpeI COllulllOU. InlS SOm0tlmoS
an expense that might have
been spared if the building had been
properly built. And the main point in
new law is to require that the
buildings in cities and towns in the
state shall be built in such a way as
make them comparatively safe
from fire, and so that they will not be
found unsafe and require changing at
expense of the owner. There is no
in the bill that would not
be carried out in any building built by
any first class architect or builder ac-
cording to the regular plans they oper-
ate by. Every citizen of the state who
careful for the safety of his own
and his neighbours property will with
put this bill erect buildings in strict
with its requirements, but
X is necessary that such a citizen shall
be protected from the careless neglect
of builders who would erect buildings
adjacent to his property and from
those who care nothing for the char
acter of their building in regard to