FIRE PREVENTION.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 33, 8 February 1908, Page 5

FIRE PREVENTION.

Wellington's resources, main duplication desirable. authoritielTnot apprehensive. The Wellington municipal authorities E-2G no cause for local apprehension in the disastrous fires which devastated Christchurch this week, for they feel that Wely lington is more fortunately situated a.^ regards fire prsvention -resources than Cln-istchureh is. There the water supply was never sufficient, whereas in Wellington it is ample for all occasions, if no accident occurs to interrupt the continuity of the inaiii3. Sucli a misfortune certainly did happen onco, but on the i principle that a shot never strikes twice in the Fame place it is hoped that a break in thg water mains and the occurrence of a big fire will not again be simultaneous. There arc, however, obvious advantages in the existence, of a duplicated water main, and this fact i»reco^nibrd by the municipal executive, but tlic work of putting down the extra line of pipes required by the scheme o| ■duplication cannot be gone on 'with (an the City Engineer explained to a Post reporter some weeks ago) until the Government completes the sciionie of straightening the railway and road to the Lower Hutt. This scheme, it will be remeat'beK*!, was commenccfl S£iveraJ years ago, aand by its present rat& of progress it does not seem likely that it will be concluded for some years. There is, however, an ample supply of water on haivi to cope with, all fires likely to ariso in Wellington, and it is claimed that tho pressure^ is such as to practically obviate any of tho deterrents frbm effective work which made the endeavours of the Christ" chinch firemen comparatively ineffective. Such a, catastrophe as that which occurred in Christcfiurch, it is said, would barely be possible here, while the present main continued intact, and, as the breaks that have occurred in it have been duo to 'earthquakes for the most part, thero would remain a possibility of the mains b«irg interrupted by such causes even tvHen ko were in existence. Ifc is point ed out that in Chri&tehurch this week a huge fire Tagtd in a "lot of inflammable buildings, and the biisrnJe had to cop© with it as best they might with a, bad water supply, whereas in Wellington there is, in aduTtiun to tbe excellent pressure in tiie mains, an unlimited supply of sea-water close at hand, and engines kept ready for emergency pumping whenever it might be required.

The Wellington Law Society is making arrangements to ewefc a monument ovor the grave of tho late Mr. Hugh Gully at Taita cemetery. The City Inspector (Mr. J. Doyle) is preparing a batch of informations against defaulting dog-owners. The cases will come before tho court in tho course of the next few days. Jupp's Brass Band will play a prygramme ot muiic at Newtowu Park lumorrow afternoon.