WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. CORRESPONDENCE TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1901. FIRE BRIGADE ANOMALIES AND INEFFICIENCY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 48, 26 February 1901, Page 4

WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. CORRESPONDENCE

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1901. FIRE BRIGADE ANOMALIES AND INEFFICIENCY.

For the causa that lacks __Bi.t_j.ce, For the wron_ that needs resistance, For the future IB the distancs,. .And the food that we can _o.

The fire on Constitution Hill the* other night probably did not attract much public attention. Two houses were burned, a good deal of property was destroyed, and eight or ten more or less valuable lives were endangered. Out it is too much to exp-ot that a Council and a body of citizens who have borne tlie Customs-street lire and other huge conflagration's with undisturbed equanimity -should take much notice of a small matter like this. Still the moral to be drawn is so obvious that the facts are well worth a little consideration. We understand that the glare of the (ire was first noticed by some one in Parnell about 2 o'clock; but knowing that there were no alarm signals or means of conimunicafion with the brigade handy, he went upon his way and was seen no more. A few minutes later the reflection in the sky attracted a policeman from somewhere near Queen-street, but he also fonnd that he could not get at the brigade "without going to the central station. About this time, it is stated, another

casual wayfarer, inspired with excess of zeal, went so far as to ring the Parnell fire bell; but he was promptly quenched by the news that as Constitution Hill was on the wrong side of the road, the Parnell brigade was not available. The inhabitants of the houses were noiv roused by the flames, and a further attempt to get the Parnell brigade failed, followed, by an equally futile effort to reach the city brigade by telephone. The house in which the lire arose was now oue mass of flames, and the second house had caught. It was nearly 2.30 o'clock when at last the alarm reached the central station, and the brigade arrived on the scene. Water was on the fire by about 2.35, or about 40 minutes after the flames had attracted the attention of observers in distant parts of the city. As many of the bystanders remarked, there had been plenty of time for half the city to be burned to the ground. , We have no quarrel with the fire brigade. When they did finally get to the scene of action, they worked most vigorously; and after an unfortunate delay in finding the hydrant, which had been skilfully concealed in the grass, they got the flames under in very good time. But no brigade could have possibly saved the second house after the alarm reached the city station. On the other hand the property iti the first house could havo been saved, nnd the second house would have escaped absolutely uninjured if the. alarm could have been given and acted upon within any .reasonable time. This is the point which should be specially emphasised.

There is certainly no other city in the colonies in which such a scene would be witnessed. A house in a populous quarter of the town takes fire; but there is no watchman on the look out for fires, there are no means of communication with the central station, there are no alarm signals such as other cities find necessary; and the nearest brigade stationed a few hundred yards away is "outside the district" and is not expected to stir. The result is that for over half an hour the fire blazes merrily unchecked, and the amount of damage is limited by the direct interposition of Providence.

This may be taken as a fairly typical case, representing the position of the ordinary dwelling house in Auckland on the occasion of a fire. The whole business, if it were not so dangerous, would be purely ludicrous. Time after time this community, the largest and one of the most prosperous in New Zealand, has exposed itself to the pitying contempt of the colony through its childish improvidence and futile parsimony. Who can compute the thousands of pounds that have been lost in this city within the last decade alone through the persistent neglect of the municipal authorities to expend a few hundreds in a timely and judicious scheme of fire prevention or fire extinction? Every man and woman, and most of the children, in Auckland know this perfectly well. But between the citizens who are inclined to think that what is everyone's business is nobody's, and the Council, which is possessed and haunted by a sense of economy, commendable enough if rightly exercised, but little short of criminal when it endangers not only the property but lives of citizens, nothing has been done. We believe that a committee has been appointed by the Council to report upon a system of fire prevention. Let us hope that the Council is at last prepared to meet the difficulty in no half-hearted wa}*. But after all the chief responsibility rests with the citizens themselves. If the citizens insist that they must and will have the

protection demanded by towns not half so large or wealthy—fire watchmen and fire alarm signals, easy public communication with the brigade stations, modern methods of fire extinction, and an adequate water supply—if they demand these things with sufficient vehemence they will have their way. Until more adequate plant is available and better organisation instituted the city stands guilty of the most culpable, the most criminal negligence, and exposed to needless risk of property and life every day and every hour.