Hastings Volunteer Fire Brigade.

Hastings Standard, Issue 218, 12 January 1897, Page 3

Hastings Volunteer Fire Brigade.

AN HISTORICAL RECOIL')

By A. A. Geoi:oe.[ d.aibt many of your reader will :e }•: with pleasure a short l.i rv <-t en ■ f 1 ur lui s'. valuable vL.. ih: Volunteer Fire ilrig; ; .u. k wa.-, in I*H5 that the i-1 .1 lii-t Yivne 1 upon Milne one that Hastings had arrived at a stage when some means for coping wiih ihvs should be provided. With tin.-, object ui view ;• few preiiininaries were disposed of. and 011 the Ith -January the immortal, the glorious, the ntver-forgotu 11-by-trades-men -Ith—of the first month of the year a meeting was held in the dining-room of Kelly's (now O'Reilly Vi Hoi* j, v. renin which. if il eoeld speak, would be able to tell some fine tales of convivial evenings, for Hastings of a do/.en years ago was not the more-dead-thau-alive place thai it is to-day. At thai time there was life and bustle to be seen, and when anything was got up by a section of the community having for its object the general good of the whole, or the promotion of the progress of the town, all pulled together to make it a succt ss, instead of doing the opposite as is too oftui the case now. The chair was taken at the initiatory meeting by Mr S. T. Toiig. who was elected the first superintendent. Mr Arthur J. Fatilknor being next in command, and the present lieutenant occupying the position of the first branchman. The apparatus consisted of the manual engine and about 20ft of b(;>e. and the '• station " was one of Mr "W. A. Beeeroft's loose-boxes. Here the brigade used to assemble 011 the very flimsiest of excusis. for there were in the whole world 110 more enthusiastic members of the fire preventive service, although their plant was not ijuite as intensive as that of the I.i■noon metropolitan. This fact did not prevent the great majority from considering their little affair as quite as important io Hastings as its larger is to the uietroi oiis of the world. There were many stirring scenes, and a haystack on lire at Pakipaki or Ilavetock was quite sufficient to get the old ark amovering over the open space which is now covered with l.oa- s. lt.;t which was then an open plain and part of the River-lea estate. Daring the first two years 110 less than forty people were elected members of the brigade, but in many cases their lives fas firemen) were of very short duration. Fire brigade work is not the game many people seem to suppose it is, and a couple of hours at the manual, the first drill after their election, used to sicken a great percentage of enthusiasts, si much so that out of the first forty who joined in the first two years half had tendered thiir resignations. Amongst the list of members in the early days we notice that of -T. G. Taiaroa and a gentleman (still resident in Hastings) who ust-d to address the presiding officer as Skuprinender Dong."' A great many others have long since left Hastings. Home of the.* Brigade's expeditions had a touch of humor of a kind in them. On one occasion an alarm was given in the dead of a, winter night, and on the Brigade assembling they saw a blaze in the direction of Pukahu. (lit' they started straight across the country, and after travelling about three miles (how they got where they did with what was then known as Kllis' waterean —the manual engine) besides canvas buckets, a fire hook and two tin torches has never been discovered — but they did get there. They found a two-roomed whare in flames. ••Is they any wat. r ?"' asked the otlicer in charge. "Oh, yes," replied a bystander who resided in that part of the country, " just in that paddick forninst ye/. ! " Away they started across a paddock recently ploughed and after a terrible struggle r< ached the well. This proved to be a one-inch pipe, and the water dripped from it at the rate of a cupful per hour. Then someone discovered that there was a tank close to the burning house, but before the struggling firemen could get to it an enthusiast had kicked the tap out to save the water from being destroyed. In course of time, the fuel becoming exhausted. the flames gradually subsided, but all at once the crowd were horror struck. The occupant of the house was reported to have perished in the Haines. A gentleman who at that time was prouiinent as a lighting jerker had. with the aid of his olfactory organs and a walking stick, discovered the remains. He could not be mistaken. He knew the party so well and he even recognised in the the heap of ruins in a corner of the bedroom the form and features of the woman who occupied the place. The crowd gathered round, and one after another identified the remains. The' flames tliekered and died away, and so did the crowd. They si«_>n loose their etithitsiam uln-n the fir.- goesout. The chit f officer conferred with the only policeman that Hastings th<-n posse? tied and lis* manipulator of the lighting thishe-% and it was finally decided that th< torpse ' m..-t i .- watched, and 1 rth.rtlat th- )■ r< j, r member of tbel'-'_elt w;w th>- 1 h.< ( branchman. Ilis comrades consoled with the promis tl 1 i y would -ml him over a droj f thing- whi<-!i they forgot to i tlie watcher was left all aloii 1 1 lory. It was a fearfullv cold night. and a deii-e fog etivi lo|N-d the -um.undin-.' ll.it -o that watchuiir a corpx in tin open air was not by anv m«;tn- th. m-ptring ixcupat.ou m.t, mud;* ihoo-e under sui !i t-.reuiii-t.itift A fit r -ome hours of Wiary w.tt-hmg tin tir-t r;i_\ 1 of ihtv n..nit- shi-n.-i i'.< - .ippan-nt in th** ea-t. Th- !in m.m had not 1* en tdh ali thi '!tin . I. .1 with the aid of that f d merit, the fire hook, h id u.\« -I the Mirrmiinlof th® c-.rp-i- w:rh th> aid of such Ugbt u tb« HiiktfiDi g*ve o ;t,

and from what little knowledge as h. possessed of such things (gamed doubt iu his mother's back : am on washing days), the " corpse '' seemed to consist chiefly of articles of funiulo attire from a hatpin to a boot-lace. There were of coarse many things which Le uid not recognise at ail, b:i. as in: raked the artL-lt s away one !>y Ci.e. making a caiviai ii.no t.t eat,..-, the L..rpsc seemed io „r.j>v gradually le.-.s and le_-s. Alia! what is this? Surely he has at last got to the long-expected-—but no, it cannot be ! It certainly looks like a portion of the trunk. He gets nearer and nearer, and touches it very gently. Can chemical action have been set up? The remains are perfectly white. It is -yes, surely he cannot be mistaken —it is a bag uf hour which has been lying in a corner, and the clothing was piled 011 top of it. What a relief, 110 inquest. No, certainly not, for as Old Sol gets bis head above the distant hills a form is seen moving across the flat in the direction of the demolished house. It has the undoubted appearance of a woman. It is—yes —no —it must be—-it certainly is Mrs K , tiie lady whose remains the man of lightning recognised as his near neighbor. The form comes nearer, gets close up at last, and is recognised, iu reply to a fe<v rapid inquiries .-he say, that she went out to spend the evening with a friend, and as it came on so dark and fearsome-looking, she decided io stay with her friend all night. It was not safe to say 1\ to that gallant branclnuan or the lightning jerker for long afterwards. 1 To be continued.;