1918.] The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. 
225 
In motor installations a hazard is often found due to more machinery 
being added than was originally contemplated, thus overloading motors and 
feeders. Dirty and dusty motors are liable to a burn-out, with the chance 
of starting a fire in its immediate surroundings. The obvious prevention 
here is to keep the motors clean. Conduit enclosing wires to the motor 
should be carried as close as practicable to the terminals, and the slack 
wire left covered with a terminal box. 
Starters, when not dust-proof, should be enclosed in a cabinet, and 
the cabinet should not be used as a receptacle for the storage of spanners, 
oil-can, and waste, an objectionable habit often indulged in. 
The switch controlling the motor must be iron-clad, and the fuses, unless 
a special cabinet is provided, should also be placed in an iron box. 
Temporary work, whether it be in connection with lighting, heating, or 
power, is often the cause of trouble, especially when it is allowed to become 
permanent. The original intention may be to use the temporary work for 
only a short period, and it is carried out with more or less of an idea that 
anything will do. Wires are tied up with pieces of string to iron tie-rods, 
or jammed over doors, and the joints are “ dry,” with only a mere covering 
for insulation. Time goes on with the temporary work still in use, until 
a breakdown of the wiring or an electrical outbreak acts as a reminder, if 
nothing worse. 
The incompetent, careless, or wilfully negligent worker is a big con¬ 
tributing factor to the electrical fire hazard. He is slovenly and dirty in 
his work, attempts to solder a joint with a half-cold iron, or forgets to use 
rubber tape when insulating a joint. He is not particular about driving 
nails or screws through wires, and finds it easier to run the conductors 
without conduit or casing behind linings or under floors. Above all, electric 
wiring demands clean and careful work, otherwise we are simply courting 
trouble. 
A very interesting case appeared not long ago in the Australian Banking and, 
Insurance, Record, in which a contractor with a very elastic conscience, who evidently 
thought that payment of his account discharged him from liability, was called to 
account for particularly shoddy work. 
The action was brought before the King’s Bench Division during 1914 by a lady 
against an electrical contractor for alleged breach of contract and fraudulent con¬ 
cealment in respect of an electric-lighting installation erected by the latter at the 
plaintiff’s house in 1904. 
It was specified in the contract that the wiring should be enclosed in wood casing, 
and the breach alleged was the failure to so enclose the conductors. In April, 1912, 
whilst some alterations were being made to a staircase in the house, it was discovered 
that some of the wiring was not enclosed at all. The insuring office was then com¬ 
municated with, and they employed an expert, who found, on taking up floors, boards, 
and the like, that in many of the rooms the wiring under floors was quite devoid of 
enclosure ; that in some cases, where carried behind skirtings, it was only partially 
enclosed, and then merely by pieces of rubber tubing ; that slip-joint steel tubing had 
in some instances been used instead of wood casing; and, furthermore, that lengths 
of such conduit had, instead of being jointed with a proper fitting, been connected 
together by pieces of rubber tubing. 
The defendant contended that there was no breach of contract and no fraudulent 
concealment, and further pleaded that the Statute of Limitations was an answer to 
the claim. He said that the wiring was according to specifications when first installed, 
but it must have been tampered with by heating-apparatus engineers who had after¬ 
wards been at work on the premises. Evidence was, however, given by one of the 
wiremen employed by the defendant in 1904 that he had actually seen the unenclosed 
wiring placed in position under the floors; other evidence was to the effect that in 
places where the wiring was easily accessible the wiremen were careful to enclose it, 
but in other situations, where it was quite hidden, they left it bare. 
15—Science. 
