THE DUNEDIN FIRE BRIGADE.

Otago Witness, Issue 832, 8 November 1867, Page 13

THE DUNEDIN FIRE BRIGADE.

The Dunedin Fire Brigade' heft their monthly meeting on Monday evening, Capt. r Kc«j was in the chair. A letter was receive*! from Mr T. J. Goodman, Hon. Secretary t* the United , Otago District of Foresters^ requesting the patronage of the Brigade to* the Foresters' Fete at Vauxhall on Monday* November llth. It wa3 agreed that 1 the request should be complied with; the members to appear in traiform, as usual. ]A. letter was also ' received from Lieut. Wain, intimating the resignation of his office, int consequence of his departure from Dunedib, and expressing regret at parting from at body with whom he had long ■ agreeably associated. By several members, complimentary reference was made to Lieut. Warn* energy as a member and discretion, as an officer ; and it was resolved to glye some, appropriate expression to the, feelings entertained by the Brigade. The Treasurer (ftfr J. Wain) submitted a short statement of the financial position' of the Brigade. By th^fc statement it appeared that L 1240 had bern received and expended between December, 1565, and August, 18S7 aj^riod of twenty months, exclusive of LlB9 9s' lOd paid by the Corporation for uniforms. The iteme of expenditure had. been' LB2 lls lid to Messrs Dalgety, Rattray, and Co, far a debt incurred in 1862 ; L4O ±o Meter* Morison and .Law — also, an old dejrt'j L22fc 12s- 6d £6 ilr GI(S.G 1( S. Brodrickj 1>52 4s, 6ff forpainting engine, expenses' on enginp honfie, &c"; L 23 for the fittings of thft reading room — an amount obtained by suriscrfption ; LJMt 8s 6d, "expenses of the fire in March, 1866. of which amount Ll3 5s was paid by the Corporation ; L 92 19a for the making of uniforms, paid by a grant from Government^ L 36,. wage? "overdue to the ' Watchman i|i December ,1865, and L2B similarly - dwt at the same periQd tot thfl.Engine-Xfeepeiy These sums amounted to L 391 16s~ sd>deducting which from .LJ240,; ,leffc~.Lß4S 3s 7d, as the," proper,' expenditure, for ,2Qfc months,' being at the' rate of • 142 Ba,2d per; month-^-'or iso§ per ftnnuav-r-fdr .salaries,., supplies, repairs^ &c. The Treasurer thought that when the larjge "debt which was '^owjiflgwhen they received E3oolfrom"£he Corpora^, tioa was considered, no one"eoul<f 'sayflia^ they had misapplied' the moneys which 'fcheyl had received from any source. Their account* had been somewhat freely spoken* about lately ; but when they found that their- expenses only amounted to L 43 8a 22. per month, it must be considered that it was nob • such a heavy cost fforr r the maintenance; o3X such a Brigade. For his, own party lie thought that, if r the' Corpohit ; on had to pay' for a Brigade, and maintain it efficiently,. • their expenses wouldamount to double that sum. He read also a balance sheet of the Members' Fund. The receipts to that fund; ' were— balance in hand, June, 1836, L 129 Ids' ' Id ; proceeds of the fete in North Dunediny L 133 2s 4d ; entrance fees and subscriptions, L 43 16s; hon members', subscriptions, Lls 15s ; donations by Messrs Aitken andWelib, L 6 13s 6d ; certificates, L 3; cash refunded,' L23;- total, L 306 19s lid. On the qredit. side, there was a balance in ban'd.pf L6O; . deports in the JBank 1 .'L200 ; and charges, to the amount remaining ,f6r ' sick allowane«» - books; book-case, newspapers, certificates^ anniversary, and- reception of Sir George Grey. Capt. Rees, in making the xißnaf ' Officers' Report, referred to the statement* and recommendations made by Mr Fish' li the City Conncil and otherwise. : The .Officers ' had preferred going, to the- fountain : bead of information or authority in matters affecting; - . the Brigade — the Mayor; and flis Worship, receiving them cordially, had very c^refplljeexamined their agreement arid accounts. The - Mayor's deduction^ from that examination was that the Corporation was legally 'bound! ' to pay to tie' Brigade L 514, and h« suggested an interview with the Finance Comniitte«^ towards which the preliminary step had To«ea taken. There seemed to have been a misapprehension about ilie sum of LlB9 foruniforms, but the Mayor came to the conclusion that that was not to be charged against the L4OO of subsidy. Itia'd at «ne ( time been made chargeable tha4 amount, "but the former Id ay or (MiMason) had rectified the matter, and made ' lit payable otherwise. .A ', Teply 1111 11' 1 irottk. 1 I the Finance Committee had -nbt.yet jbeen. received ; but he had no doubt that it wouH be arranged to take place, and that a pt-rfectly satisfactory understanding would be arrives at. The Mayor- hat! expressed bis regret that 1 there should be such arrears of wagea'to the engine-keepeiand watchman, and truatedthat^ from what he knew of" the disposition of tbe- • Council, the! Brigade wouldbe enabled to ga r on better m' the future.-^Threenew'memibemfc, were proposed randr 'and admitted • aridf it f , was proposed, and agreed' to, the hand, pump ' . now ' kept at the " Royal George. Hotel, should be kept' at' the engine-house m -George • street, along with ' the curricfe' engine. . It was also arranged that the hand- ' pump- now in the kcepinp of' Lieutenant Wain, should be retained in the same vicinity — near thp Robir^Hood; HptfeJL, . It was .ie- • j solved to ppstpone. consideration, of the yrpr 'posal"ofthe City* Council "as to the Enginekeeper undertaking the duty of ringing thebell on Bell-tower, until the other matters between the Council and Brigade should be arranged.