PREVENTION OF FIRE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 34, 10 February 1908, Page 6

PREVENTION OF FIRE.

Tho exact pecuniary uneasure of tho terriblo disaster \vhibb overtook the city of Chriotchurch on, Thursday evening and in the course of a few hours completely destroyed one of the finest blocks of buildings in tha Dominion cannot be detormiraxi at present. Tho original cstiraato o£ £250,000 appears to represent pretty accurately tho losses of tho insurance, companies, but this will probably neefl to ba doubled to represent tho of tho property destroyed. A*yUiing from £400,000 to £500,000 was fc? xe estimate of Mr. Maddison, tho Cbxtstchurch architect, Avhich ■was quoted m the- Press Association message on Friday; and tho opinions of several o^.ier unnamed experts weTo cited as inclining to the neighbourhood of tho larfja- amount. But tho total damage is far from being exhausted by these .-ngures, which, appalling as they aro, merely profess to cover the actual cfef jtruction of property. Tho loss invc/ved in fhs suspension and dislocation of business, the loss of profits and '" of \va"es, represent a blow to prospo :ij!,y, a discount on tho sum of human happiness, which cannot be nearly so accurately measured. The stoppage o f wages no doubt involve.-, piopodtionately a far larger amount of fiui'iu.ng than other itern3 which absolnfc^j/ reach a moro imposing total. The*; of tho D.1.C., whose enterprise has' been rewarded by two firea of the tirslj magnitude within three years, we rtod that a staff of more than two hundred will bo out of employment i».itil business is resumed. In the course tit time able management and better dividends may reimburse tho sharet holders of this and other concerns, but j for many of the wage-earners the future will provido no adequats recompense I for the privations of the next few we oils. As usual, the ca,use of tho fire is left in uncertainty, but the chief causes which lent such a terriblo potency to an accident of a kind which can never bo entirely eliminated aro unfortunatsly plain enough. If the accident which I originated tho flro may be classed as inevitable, it wns gross human carelessness that permitted of its developrnont into n great disast-a'*. An insufficient water supply, defective lire appliances, and tho lack even in tn© bestequipped, modem buildings of adequate structural precautions o gainst the spread of a tire, are three of tho ;/reventable things winch were not provorl'ed. Jt now appears that Mr. fjinifch, the Superintendent of the Firo Brigade, d-^kred that if a fira once gob a good !>a^ of tiio D.I.U. block tha water sin>j;<y would bo found' inadequate, and 11//I 1 // has been proved a true prophet. It is pitiful to raid of a mere dribble of water as all that waa available at various critical points in tlie battle with the flames, and Ohriatchurch may be relied on to redouble her efforts for an improved water-supply. But for the citizens of Wellington tbo pifoper course 13 not to lecture their neighbours, but to set their own house in order. For yc-sra tho experts have been telling us thai this city is not safo until the Wainui main has been duplicated, and are we to wake up some morning to read in tho light of disastrous experience that they have spoken aa truly as tho Ohristchurch Superintendent? The primary responsibility rest 3at .present with tho Government, for the Gity Engineer has k)ld' es *that the main should not b r o duplicated until the widening of the flutl-road has been completed To hasten this long-delayed, object should therefore bo tho uTgent aim of' the Mayor, Councillors, and citizens qf Wellington, and they should give Ministers no peace till it has been Beared.