EVENING POST. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1901. THE "ORIENTAL" FIRE.

Evening Post, Volume LXII, Issue 127, 25 November 1901, Page 4

EVENING POST. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1901. THE "ORIENTAL" FIRE.

* _ The unfortunate accidents which occurred in connection with the fire at the Oriental Hotel, while the Royal Oak disaster has not faded from the memory of our readers, again point to the urgent necessity of at once affording more adequate provision for the safety of ' the travelling public. The Oriental Hotel ■was generally recognised by all who had given any consideration to the matter as being a "risky" house in case a fire occurred, but the police who perform the work of inspection presumably reported favourably on it, and the Licensing Committee accepted the report and granted a continuation of the license. That, of course, "meant that in the eyes of those responsible for carrying out the law tb* hotel was sufficiently equipped with fire escapes, and as travellers are generally careless about their- own safety, and the public has no particular interest in a matter which does not affect its pockets, the hotel was carried on as usual, until an early hour this morning. Then the crash came. ' A fire broke out, somehow or other, in the top story, and "in a few moments the lives of all the inmates were in danger. The fire escapes which had been favourably reported on by the police and accepted as sufficient by the Licensing Committee, resolved themselves apparently into a few ropes, fastened inside the windows of some of the bedrooms; and that some of the inmates managed to escape by their aid simply proves that men, and women too, prefer to risk death by falling from a rope to the slower torture of death by fire. Even that chance was not given to all, and some of the inmates, it appears, were driven to the desperate expedient of jumping wildly into space, not knowing how far they had to fall or what was at the bottom. That the number of injured was not very much larger is not the fault of those who were responsible for allowing such a scandalous state of things to exist. As a matter of fact, the Oriental Hotel was not at all fitted for the purpose of a licensed house for the accommodation of travellers, and the only wonder is that its destruction by fire was not accompanied by a dreadful catastrophe. We have all along contended that the

law affecting licensed houses should be amended so as to compel the owners of old wooden buildings such as this to pull them down and rebuild in brick, and not wait until they have been destroyed by fire before effecting such a neccessary improvement. Hotels such as the Oriental, standing in a narrow thoroughfare like Willis-street, are a source of danger to the city, and always likely to prove a source of danger to the inmates in case of fire, and the authorities should be given the power, and made to exercise it, of compelling their demolition and the erection in their stead of up-to-date proSerly - equipped premises of modern esign, which would present a respectable appearance, and in which the inmates would be afforded some real provision for escape in case of fire. Such an amendment of the law would result in the employment of capital, it would restrict "the trade" to a class which, having greater interests at stake, would see that their houses were conducted on the best and safest and most efficient lines, and would do away with many so-called hotels which are merely "bo'ozing-kens*' under a more dignified name. As to fire escapes, it is evident that to any one but an athlete or a person mad with despair, a rope is merely a delusion, unless one wanted to let down a valuable but heavy article of furniture by its means. If an owner or a licensee cannot afford to put up steel ladders or some such efficient form of escape as is to be seen at the large hotels in Wellington, he should be refused a license, and the house should be closed until some one with the necessary capital can be found to carry it on in a safe and satisfactory manner. In addition to these escapes it would not be too much to insist that in every hotel there should be employed a night-watchman, whose duty it would be at regular intervals through the night to make a tour .of the building and see that all was safe. "Tell-tale" clocks should be placed at various parts of the hotel, and on these the nignt-watchman would record the fact of his having made his round and the time at which he made it. On discovering a fire he would sound an alarm, which should be loud enough to waken the soundest sleeper, throw open all the escapes, turn on the lights, ring up the Fire Brigade, and 'assist the inmates in saving ' themselves and their effects. Such a system would be at once effioient and inexpensive, and would create a confidence in the minds of travellers which uoes not now exist. But even if it were expensive, it must be borne in mind that the Licensing Law is not designed to enable hotelkeepere and owners of property to make large fortunes. ' Its primary objects are to regulate the traffic, to ensure good accommodation and the safety of those who avail themselves of it, and recent events go to show that in the issue of licenses those entrusted with the administration of the law have not had proper regard for at least one of these essentials. .

The Federal Bill abolishing Kanaka labour in the Queensland sugar industry promises to be the first serious test' of the solidarity of the Australian Commonwealth. For the moment the State Government and the Federal authorities appear to be ,in conflict. The Commonwealth Parliament is resolved upon a course of action that is distasteful to the State Government^ and, as ■nx "were informed on Saturday, the question is being warmly discussed in the Queensland Assembly. A motion for the establishment of a State refinery came up for debate, and an amendment was moved for a continuance of the Kanaka Labourers Act for another ten years. Were this amendment to be carried, the Federal and State Parliaments would be in direct conflict, and the Constitution would be severely strained. It is, however, highly improbable that the Queensland Parliament will go to such an extreme, more especially as under the Constitution a Federal' statute upon such a subject would prevail against a State law. Such being the case, ' the Queensland Government would not be able to carry out the Parliamentary resolution by legal means, and there would only remain a recourse to force, which is practically an inconceivable contingency. Were the northern State virtually unanimous in its desire for Island labour, there might possibly be some risk of serious complications ; but Queensland itself is divided upon the question, and its government depends, it must be remembered, upon a limited franchise. We have no doubt that a manhood or adult plebiscite would pronounce in favour of the Federal measure by an overwhelming majority, while it is not by any means certain that Mr. Philp has even the present restricted electorate behind him in his opposition to it. If trouble had to arise between the central and a State Government, it was fortunate that the State in question should be the only one which has a narrow* franchise, for it must sooner or later come into line with the rest, and then there would be no chance of fits Government trying to retain coloured labour. The Premier, at the Royal Oak Hotel on Saturday evening, when tho Ministry entertained^ a number of our troopers fresh returned from South Africa, again beat the Jingo drum for the entertainment of his Imperial gallery. It will be interesting to watch the English papers wheii they come to hand, and observe whether Eeuter, at the cost of the taxpayers, has been made the conduit to convey t» the British public the martial aspirations of Mr. Seddon. We have sent seven contingents to the war, and, relatively to our population and resources, have done more than any other Englishspeaking community of the nation to serve the cause of the Empire in South Africa ; but this apparently is not enough to satisfy the martial spirit of the Premier. "It was cheering to him," he is reported to have said on Saturday evening, "to know that most of those who returned to this country were anxious to' get to the front again as soon as possible." What are we to understand from this unless that the Minister for Defence would send more contingents before he makes his progress to. the Coronation ? Is there occasion for further sacrifice of men and money? Cer-. tainly not; for there are plenty of men available in the South African colonies, and tens of thousands in the Old Country, who would respond at once if called upon. Mr. Chamberlain would, no doubt, accept any further offer of colonial troops, as we learn to-day has been done in the case of Canada ; but it is not the men he wants, but the object-lesson to the nations of the sustained support of the self-governing colonies of the Empire. When more men are needed, we shall be the first to advocate their going hence, but there is no present need, and the evident desire of the Premier to send further troops to the front can only be dictated by a spirit of vainglorious Jingoism. Patriotism, like charity, begins at home, and the Minister for Defence can be better employed in looking to the defence of New Zealand rather than draining the country -of more of its young men for an enterprise that is not at present in need of their assistance.