FIRE ALARMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5398, 6 March 1879, Page 3

FIRE ALARMS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —It is greatly to be wished that your suggestion of having a central watch-tower, and doing with the fire-bells, be kept before the pnbl'c. I was witness, only a fow nights ago, to the absurdity of the present arrangement, which I saw to be merely a good opportunity for a few inisch'evous boys airi stupid roughs to havo a " lark.'" Two or three littlo humbugs wore perched upon tho bell-frame, and, not a trace of fire b ing visable in any " airt," they merely paused from time to time to hear if any other bells wero keeping up the fun ; if &o. then—" Go on, Bill 1 let her 'ave it!" And I suppose theso natures have auditory nerves not of a sensitive character. The fire bell system i 9 a nuisance, and the worse of it is that it is an entirely senselesj nuisance. A central watclilower or a proper system of communication should be, substituted. 1. It gives to idlers and ml - chievous boys a llcenco t> indulge in what is sport to them, but may be—l liad almost said death (thinking of JE-iop's boys and frogs)—well, even death, it may be to | persons of sensitive organisation, or with, what is so often manifested now-a-daya, weak heart. One case is mentioned to me, that of a lady in Par. noil, who, being In feeble health, waa alarmed by the sudden ringing of the fire-bell, and actually died under the nervous shock inducsd. 2. It is a clumsy expedient, and might have baen reasonably resorted to in 1579, or thereabout—a semi-barbarous expedient indeed, and how continued here may be a matter of interesting inquiry. 3. The whole affair is ludicr usly insuUiciont. if the alarm bo given during the day, tho firemen are no better off than Hood's huntsman asking the lialf-d zen clowns which wav the fox had gone,—every clown pointing in a different direction. If afire t*kej pljce after midnight, tho firemen themselves may sea the glare (by that time it is too late), but ve»y likely nobjdy U at hand then to ring the boll. When a house was burned down in tho Kyber Pass Road, not long a*o, the case was past praying for" before a bell sounded ! Of course, it will be insisted that a change would involve expense, that only silly people objoct on the ground of nervous disturbance, that the fire-bells have outlived all such objections for bo many years, and all the usual dreary &c., &c.'s. Nor muat we forget the needless alarms given. If an unlucky maid-servant sets fire to her kitchcn chimney, the country within a radius of a mile or two is put into cousternation to no purpose. Even in Edinburgh, unquestionably the most utterly wretehed town iu Britain (possibly Europe), as regards m »tters of police and general administration, the various police stations have at last been actually connected by telegraph, so that a fire in any part can, perhaps, be within a minuie or two reported to the central station. The terror produced imong those lying on beds of sickness, or afflicted with disease of tho heart or arteries, or nervous lebility of any kind is iadescrlbable,—fndeed, there ire many circums .ances under which that hideous sound may bring about most tragic issues. Then fore, whether by watch-tower or electrics, do, in the name af humanity,— '* Silence that dreadful bell ; it frights tho Isle From her propriety." -I am, &c., B.