WATER SUPPLY FOR FIRE PURPOSES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIV, Issue 5017, 14 December 1877, Page 2

WATER SUPPLY FOR FIRE PURPOSES.

Messrs. Branston and Forster, plumbers, having laid on the water supply with supplies of hose, &c., at Messrs. Thornton, Smith, and Firth's mill, the Post-office and Custom-house, and the Police-station and Court-house, High-street, trials of the apparatus and the efficiency of the supplies in case they were required were made yesterday. The first trial was made at Messrs. Thornten, Smith, and Firth's mill. Here a two-inch service main has been laid through the whole premises, with connections at each floor and supplies of hose, couplings and nozzles. The first trial was made from the connection at the lower landing. The hose was led over the low roof into Mill lane, and here the water was played upon the building in the presence of Mr. Errington. Waterworks Engineer; Mr. Hughes, Superintendent of the Fire Brigade; Mr. Forster, of the firm of Branston and Forster, Mr. Firth, and others. In the tirst instance the water was delivered from a half-inch nozzle, but there was a strong wind blowing, and the small jet from this nozzle became broken into spray before it could be played over the roof. The nozzle was then screwed off the branch, leaving an aperture about an inch in diameter, and although this was not exactly what would have been desirable for the delivery, it was incomparably superior to the other. It ejected tLe water in a stroug stream, which remained intact while being delivered over the roof, and to within ten or twelve feet of the top of the chimney, aud, on the whole, the result of the trial here was considered satisfactory. Then the connection was made at the roof of the mill, and the water was played over the mill and adjoining buildings. The jets did not asceud to a very great height, but the delivery horizontally, and for a distance of some sixty or seventy feet, was very effective. We may add that the connection with the engin< - pump in these premises, which has rendered such effective aid in the (ires that have broken out in the lower end of Queen-street, still remains, and are not at all interfered with by the present appliances. in fact, the forces can be worked either conjointly or separately, as occasion may require. 'J'he next trial was made in front of the t'ost-oiliee iu Snortland street. Here there is a 2-inch service, but only IJ-ineh hose. The water was played on Nathan aud Co.'s building, but the jet barely reached the parapet. It was then taken round to the back of the Customhouse, aud played iu Pott-street ; but neither in siz 1 -*, nor strength, nor height of delivery did the jet meet full expectation, although the pressure was on from the Ivyber Pass reservoir. In order to draw a comparison, Mr. Hughes then had thn hydrant by which the streets are watered attached to the street fire-plug. The result was a most marked difference, for from the latter the water was sent in a body dozens of yards above the highest parapet, and it was evident, therefore, that the fault did not lie in the water pressure. The next trial was at the Police Station and Court house. Here there is only a l : [ inch scrvice pipe, and a 1-ittch hose ut about 120 feet in length. The delivery was sullijient to reach the roof of the Court-house, but here, as iu the former instance, the large hydrant was brought into play, and the result was that the small jet sunk into insigciticanee. Those small services may, aud no doubt will be, oE immense utility in dealing with fires disin Uv- ediiiees themselves, and may be valuable auxiliaries to the Fire Brigades, but they certainly cannot enter into compe titiou with the street mains. In the Customhouse aud Post office there are three doublebrauch hydrants, and in the front there is GO feet of 2 inch hose in

a'lditiou to the inch hose, but the former is ouly iutended to lie used in washing down tho building. When laying the wa*:er through the police buildings, Branston and Forster removed all the old closets, and replaced them by others, in which the water is played in the most simple manner possible Cranks, levers, and valve 3 are entirely doue away with, and iu construction and working they are admirably adapted for the uses intended.