NO FIRE BRIGADE POLICY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11691, 28 June 1901, Page 4

NO FIRE BRIGADE POLICY.

It is abundantly evident that the Auckland City Council has no Fire Brigade policy whatever. Perhaps a blaze that will destroy half Queenstreet or desolate a score of suburban acres may have the result of forcing our city fathers to take suit-

able action. That anything short of this will be effective can hardly be anticipated by the deputation of the Chamber of Commerce which the members of the Fire Brigade Committee do not take the trouble to meet. It is doubtless satisfying to our ex-Mayor to know that expert opinion endorses the theory we now hear he has made his own, the remarkable theory that when two or three taps are turned on from the same pipe the pressure is less than when only one tap is in use. But the fire-dreading citizen will not consider this altogether consoling. For it does not alter the indisputable fact that our fire prevention service is a public disgrace, reflecting upon the Council which is responsible for it and the city which tolerates it.The proposal of the Chamber of Commerce, as voiced yesterday by Mr. A. Myers, outlines a necessary scheme of self-protection. That the city is to be put off with a few feet of hose, a telescope ladder, and a couple of hired horses, would be humorous were it not that such tremendous risks to life and property are involved. That we are to burn in our beds and be involved in common ruin in a single night because our city rulers cannot realise that we are no longer a waterside village tend that fire prevention has become a municipal function is a prospect which no farcical explanations can make entertaining.