FIGHTING FIRES

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 140, 14 June 1924, Page 8

FIGHTING FIRES

LIBRARY FOR NEWTOWN

STATION.

A- very pleasant evening was spent on Monday at the Constable Street Fire Station, when members of the Wellington Volunteer Fire Police entertained the officers and men of the station and fletachments from the various stations in the city. An excellent musical programme was rendered by Messrs. R. Roberts, Gregg-, Brokensliire, Houtchen, and J. Bryant. Mr. C. Dean officiated at the piano. Advantage was taken by the^ Fire Police to present a handsome bookcase to the station.

Captain Wright, in making the. presentation, spoke in terms of high appreciation of the great work being carried on by the firemen .in the cause of humanity, likening their work to that of the soldier on the. battlefield. It was equally as noble and self-sacrificing, he said. He hoped that the case would soon become full of good"reading matter, which would be greatly appreciated by both officers and men.

' Superintendent ' Tait, thanking the Fire Police for their generous gift, spoke of _ the great necessity of a library containing works dealing with modern firefighting, thus enabling firemen to keep pace with the ever-increasing demand for knowledge. Fire fighting was rapidly becoming a science, and in the near future the human element* of fire fighting would have to give way to scientific measures. The present period was one of progress in science, and when one great scientist developed the elements in one method of destruction, other scientists quickly looked around for some means of combating it. There was no fireproof building, fire-resisting some might be, but in this age heat could be generated that would crumble the finest building constructed by man. For instance, the' latest electric ray recently invented, • for which nations were now quarrelling, was worked on the principle of heat, and would, in the. event of war, probably be used for the purpose of destroying human life, and the destruction of- works of human creation. Other scientists would probably invent something to combat *this, and so the fireman's duties, would become . more and more involved as time progressed. It was only by keeping up with the great nations of the world per medium of bookreadinjr that the- firemen would be able to combat -fires in the near future.