THE ENEMY IN OUR MIDST. A Constant Danger.

Free Lance, Volume I, Issue 49, 8 June 1901, Page 8

THE ENEMY IN OUR MIDST. A Constant Danger.

IN this colony hundreds of thousands of pounds have been spent upon arms and munitions of war, so that we may be prepared to resist any foreign aggression should the emergency ever arise. It never has arisen yet, and is not at all imminent, but, all the same, we have cheerfully borne this expense as an insurance against possible risks With equal willingness the colony every year foots a considerable bill for its military establishment, and pays a capitation allowance to help its citizen-soldiers to maintain themselves in a state of efficiency. All this expense and preparation are undertaken to guard against the possible, but rather remote, contingency of hostile attack from without It is a wise precaution # * * But there is a foe within our borders which is constantly threatening our lives and property, which keeps us in continual jeopardy, and yet, m most cases, we prefer to take the risk rather than incur the expense that adequate protection would cost This foe is fire In the light of recent experience, it must be confessed that we live m a fools' paradise Look at that devastating fire which, only a week ago, broke out on the slope of Mount Victoria, and swept more than a score of fine dwelling-houses out of existence We have an excellent Fire Brigade, with an up-to-date equipment, but their energies were paralysed by the want of a water supply that will afford an adequate pressure for fire extinction on the higher levels of the city. It has been a crying want for years, and yet the City Council have paltered with it and done nothing. * # * The case of Auckland i& still more tiagic and shameful One night after the Wellington conflagration a fire broke out m the Grand Hotel, m the very heart of that city, and, not only was nothing saved, but four poisons were burnt alive and a fifth hab since died fiom injuries received m jumping from the blazing building What was the matter with the Fire Brigade ? Utter helplessness, fiom causes for which the City Council must be held responsible. Through a parsimony which is almost criminal, the Auckland City Council expects its firemen to do the work of horses They have no horse traction, and nine firemen had to drag,

up a steep hill, to the scene of fire, an engine weighing thirty hundredweight. Of course, they arrived breathless and exhausted. ■/■ *■ * More than that, they were hampered by the want of sufficient pressure in the water supply. And, to crown all this preventible impotence, they had not a proper fire-ladder with which to reach the upper windows of the hotel. Surely, it is high time, in the light of these dreadful experiences, that the local public bodies throughout New Zealand rose to a sense of their responsibility as guardians of the public safety. It is their most sacred duty, and no petty considerations of cheese-paring should be allowed to stand in the way. Every town of decent size ought to have its steam fire-engine, an adequate water-supply, and all reasonable means and appurtenances to boot, for coping effectually with fire, from whose outbreaks no community is safe.