FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!

Auckland Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2403, 1 December 1877, Page 6

FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!

(To the Editor of the Star). Sir, —What earthly use are the iirebells in this city if we don't know how to use them ? On every occasion of a fire their tongues, like at the building of the tower of Babel, make confusion worse confounded ; and the general public are at the mercy of any larrikin who may choose to ring them from their virtuous couches, and as has been the

case, cause an alarm at the moon rising over the hills, or the stm heing reflectad from the ventilator at the Odd Felloe's Hall. If my memory serves me, I think Mr Hughes, the present Inspector of the Fire Brigade, laid before the City Council a report in which was suggested the propriety of having a watch or signal tower on Barrack Hill, when not only could a signal be given on the first outbreak of a fire, but the locality would be also shewn, so that the Brigade could go immediately to the spot, and not as at present have to find out its whereabout, and probably go in a wrong direction through mis-information. The Cily Council, in their wisdom thought proper to ignore this practical suggestion of Mr Hughes, and it seems to me that the exertions of this useful body ot men who have been brought to an efficient state of discipline second to none in the colony, are looked upon by the powers that be with a callous indifference. Witness the refusal the other day of a paltry thirty shilling for refreshments. We are a nice people—a very nice people indeed, but I am afraid that in aiming at perfection in our municipal arrangements, we overlook those little details which eventually make up a harmonious whole.—l am, &c., AN Old Identity.