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CHAPTER VIII
THE PREVENTION OF FIRE IN GODOWNS.
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59.
Our terms of reference required us to "consider and recommend what measures should be taken to prevent in the future" occurrences similar to that which occurred at the Wing On Godowns, This entailed an inquiry firstly into fire prevention as administered in the Colony, and secondly into the fire extinction system of the Fire Bri- gade. Just as in medicine the development of a preventive system lagged long behind the development of a system of curative medicine, so we understand the prevention of fires has only comparatively re- cently assumed any degree of importance even in socially advanced countries such as Britain. In England, fire prevention remains to a considerable extent the province of insurance companies, who impose on insurers of goods stored stringent requirements as to storage if premiums are to be kept low or the maximum rebate allowed. In other words safety in storage is ensured by economic factors. We understand that the London County Council almost alone among local authorities possesses a properly trained and equipped fire-prevention service, but the formation of similar units by other local authorities is receiving very active attention. Fire prevention services are likely to multiply and expand in the United Kingdom as the man-power situation improves. Here in Hong Kong we are fortunate in possessing adequate reserves of man-power, though admittedly possessing little technical ability.
60. After considering whether a fire such as occurred at the Wing On Godowns should be regarded as a normal risk in the Colony and on this basing some recommendations on the necessity for modifying existing legislative and administrative arrangements for ensuring the safe storage of cinematograph film and on the adequacy or inadequacy of the personnel strength, training and equipment of the Fire Brigade,
a strict interpretation of the terms of reference might there have enabled us to limit our inquiry. We have however not been able altog- ether to exclude from the ultimate cause of the Wing On Fire the poss- ibility that it might be attributable to other sources, and this led us to an examination of the regulations for the prevention of fires