Evening Post. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1898. ANOTHER FIRE AND ITS LESSON.

Evening Post, Volume LVI, Issue 155, 29 December 1898, Page 4

Evening Post. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1898. ANOTHER FIRE AND ITS LESSON.

<♦ ■ This morning there was yet another call upon the resources of the Fire Brigade, and,, in spite of the high wind and the inflammable nature of the burning material, the efforts of the men, resulted in checking what might hare been a still more serious conflagration. The Acting-Captain handled his force well, and the firemen were evidently on their mettle and determined to prove that they were willing to do their utmost with the means at their disposal. All this is highly satisfactory to the public, but this new fire again brings into prominence the whole question of making the city Brigade adequate, in numbers and appliances, to cope with all emergencies. On this occasion, it is true the appliances seemed sufficient, but the properties attacked or threatened were not large residential ones like the Royal Oak Hotel, and consequently there was not the same urgent need of fire escapes and ladders. Although the Brigade's apparatus would thus seem to have been adequate for the occasion there was a noticeable lack of firemen. There were, we tinderstand, only 27 members, of the Brigade at work, and these, even when supplemented by four or five accepted "nelpers," were scarcely enough to grapple to the best advantage with the advancing flames. There is here further proof of the necessity for the thorough reorganisation of the Brigade and the enrolment of sufficient numbers of competent men. The Cathedral fire and the loss of the Royal Oak betrayed the general inadequacy of the Brigade to suppress fires of extraordinary magnitude, and this further experience goes a long way to show that the fault does not lie with the individual men who make up the force. What is wanted first of all is an expert and skilful commander, then more trained men are needed, and the gear requires thoroughly overhauling and largely supplementing. These requisites will cost money, but surely it will be money well spent, for whoever bears the immediate loss from a fire, whether it be the owner, the occupier, or the underwriter, the damage ultimately falls upon the community m one form or another. Each fire necessarily means so much deducted from the national assets, and since the present system of insurance lor various reasons does not appear to prompt those immediately concerned to adopt every available precaution against loss of life and property, it is small wonder that people who have a natural prejudice against State interference should yet begin to look with favour upon a system of State insurance which would force the community in selfdefence to insist upon preventive measures and the means of suppressing fires being brought to as high a pitch of perfection as possible. The difficulty in improving the Fire Brigade, like most other municipal difficulties, lies' in the financial side of the question, and it is scarcely consistent with justice that the whole brunt should be borne by the ratepayers. On previous occasions this journal has suggested the advisableness of making the "underwriters and the Central Government contributory to the local Fire Brigade revenue. Could this be done, there is reason to believe that our municipal authorities would be less prone to skimp the expenditure upon one of the most important institutions in our towns. Behind the local Councils there is the eternal dread of the. " close-fisted ratepayer." In many instances the fear is groundless, and the niggardly citizen is little more than tne fiction of- an imaginative perturbed brain. If the civic rulers would take the trouble to set clearly before their constituents the falsity of the penny-wise-pound-foolish economy so often preached by municipal " stagnationists" the citizens would readily enough agree to spend a little more money in procuring such necessary servants as a commander of the Fire Brigade, and such necessary appliances as • the gear for fire suppression. A correspondent, " Cerberus," calls attention in another column to the totally inadequate salary offered by the City Council in its advertisement for a successor to Captain Kemsley. For £250 a year and quarters our City Fathers expect to secure as applicants "men of long experience in ibo duties appertaining to the position," and ' under 45 years of- age — that is to say, men 1 in the prime of life, with valuable expert knowledge and sound practical training. , The idea is almost ludicrous, and it is r.urprising that the Mayor, who so strongly supports Mr. Chamberlain's doctrine of adequate wages to ability in municipal affairs, should have allowed the proposal to be accepted without making a strong protest. It is possible that among the applicants may W competent mon who will be ready to undertake the work foi, say, £350 or £400 per annum. S:-rtuy this would not be too much for Wellington to pay, when towns like Ballarat, not to mention Sydney and Melbourne, can afford from £500 to £700 a year. There is no truth so palpable, in the light of modern municipal development;, as the all-im-portant one that local bodies must be provided with thoroughly competent and highly paid experts for superintending the various departments of their ,activity. It is becoming more and more apparent day by day that if our municipal and national institutions are to withstand the disintegrating forces of extreme democracy they must be supplied with trained officers, whose salaries are large enough to secure their full loyalty and undivided attention. It is to be hoped that the City Council, now that it appears to intend a thorough reform of the Fire Brigade, will

reconsider its parsimonious attitude towards the captain. True economy, from the point of view of the community, demands a skilled commander of the brigade, and, unless we are much mistaken, the man we want cannot be got for the small annual salary now offered.