New Britain herald., 1915-11-18
Council on Irail of Safety
 C0mmission, Deaf 10 Orders
Takes It to Task and Also Declines to Accept Its View Overtime Pay for Pocemen-Ice
 House Is In Again.

think we passed an ordinance ir ] September covering such a point ant
 I don't see the necessity of thi: ! healing act The board of public
 safety, as I remember it, asked us ir
 June for permission to continue Off. cer Malone's pay while he was of
 duty because of sickness. The cor. poration counsel said such actior
 would be illegal. The safety board was instructed to consult the corpo.
 ration counsel with a view to getting
 around it. The ordinance committee
 reported an amendment to the ordin.
 ances in September to cover such g
 situation, giving the safety board the right to extend leave of absence with 1 pay because of sickness on the part
 of a policeman. But I don't think j. that ordinance is retroactive" ! Mayor Quigley asked Chairman Al 1 ling whether the corporation counsel
 had ben consulted regarding the present resolution and MT. filling re- i piled in the negative.
 Councilman Curtis traced the i course of the Malone case since it was first brought up in June. Mayor ; Quigley stated that in his opinion the ordinance was not retroactive. We are not asking the mayor for his op1nion,' said Councilman Lan- ders CT mean by that that we are not putting 1t up to- the mayor" II am not trying to give a legal opinion" replied Mayor Quigley. evil dently nettled by the first part of Councilman Landers' statement 1T would rule a motion to adopt this resolution out of order until we have the opinion of the corporation coun- sel."
 What period does this bill for SIPS cover?" asked Councilman F. T. Me- Donough.
 Chairman filling was unable to state, but A. E. Magnell, clerk of the safety commission, said 1t covered the period from about the middle of July to the first of September
 The resolution was tabled for an opinion from the corporation coun- sel.
 At this point Councilman Curtis in- troduced motion ordering the safety board to comply with the instructions of the council regarding insignia for the traffic officers and the motion was adopted.
 Reduction Of Fire Hazard.
 Reduction of the fire hazard in houses of three or more tenements was the aim of two resolutions intro duced by Councilman Curtis, who would have the ordinance committee and the building inspector consider to the ordinances by, which cellars in which there are heat ing plants would be made practically f1reproof. He would have the heat ing systems where there is one Cheat ing plant for the entire house en- closed in a f1reproof room, the ceil- ings covered with f1reproof material and all woodwork in the cellar made fireproof. He would also leave it to the discretion of the building inspect or where this order was not to be en- forced.
 That Fire Prevention Day.
 In comm enting on his proposals, Councilman Curtis paid his respects to the recent Fire Prevention day. He said it was expected that the var ious committees of inspection would report to the health department or the fire chief where they found con- ditions which increased the fire ha- gard. He understood that only five such cases had been reported but he believed that if a sincere inspection had been made hundreds of cases would have been complained of. He said that a number of fires had start ed in cellars within the past fcw years and there had been nothing to keep the flames from mounting into the buildings. He referred to a recent block fire where, he said, the cellar was filled with papers and the ceiling was not protected. By adopting such ordinances as he pro. posed it might be possible to reduce fire insurance rates, he said.
 "Reduction" in Insurance Rates.
 Councilman Landers asked Mayor Quigley, as an insurance expert, how far the city would be forced to go to get those reductions in fire in surance rates. This was one of the pet campaign arguments of His Honor in the spring of 1914 when he pictured the millennium for property owners as regards fire insurance rates. Councilman Landers said in- surance was a direct tax. He told of promises the fire underwriters made as to the wonderful drop the rates would take in this city when auto mobile fire apparatus was bought, fire zones established ,hydrant ser- vice extended, etc, and he was in- quisitive as to just how much the city would have to do to make any impression on the fire underwriters.
 '"The underwriters have been very unjust," replied the mayor to Coun- cilman Landers' questions.
 Well, how much further must we