OUR ILLUSTRATIONS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVII, Issue VII, 17 August 1901, Page 322

OUR ILLUSTRATIONS.

FIGHTING THE FLAMES, Our illustrations of a fire brigade at drill are appropriate at this time, when in several centres of the colony the question of up-to-date appliances for fighting the fames has been brought to the front. The antiquated system that has had to do duty in Auckland, for instance, has recently been brought into great- discredit by a lamentable conflagration, and the result has been that the eity is determined it shall be equipped with the machinery necessary to minimise the risk of destruction by fire and the loss of life. Anyone who has witnessed an np-to-date fire brigade at its drill, or has been near a station when the alarm is sounded, must have been surprised at the rapidity with which the firemen get into their places and the horses into their traces, and the fire engine is on its way to the scene of the outbreak. It is all a matter of seconds. The men who live on the premises above the engine-room practically drop from their beds into their seats. The horses, standing ready behind the engine, are trainee to move quickly forward into their pl ic rs when the alarm sounds; the harness suspended above their heads, and already attached to rhe engine, drops on their necks and automatically fastens itself; and the engine rushes forth to the fray. At the fire the same completeness marks all apparatus; hose, ladders. fire escapes, are designed to facilitate the work and :o save those in danger. The trained firem n have all the alertness of mau-o'-war's men. all the discipline of the soldier, and the combined daring of both: and the dangers they have to face are certainly not less than these encounter on sea or land. GOLDEN CROSS. The Golden Cross is one of the mines owned by the Waitekauri G.M. Company, and. has produced a large amount of bullion. Prior to the flotation of the pre-ent Waitekasri Company the Golden Cross property was successfully worked by Mr H. Ku-sclL