ASHBURTON FIRE BRIGADE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1761, 8 February 1888, Page 2

ASHBURTON FIRE BRIGADE

.» I. . . Latterly the publio have not hoard muot of Fire Brigade mattes, the little troubles of two years ago, appearing, happily to be buried, and th* present corps is attending 1 to its duties quietly and unobiroairoty. The Brigade *t the present time consists of 18 member* ail told— 4 officers and 14 firemen. The men are all of the right stamp, and have their hearts entirely ia their work, They are to be complimented on the high degree of efficiency th y hare attaine.l, and the credi able performance of a teara vrhioh went to Dunedin last year— although tbe Brigade had At that rime not long been f .imed, and the men *ere new to the work— will be remembered. Another team is preparing for the competition to be held atCbrietcbur h shortly, and tbe practices show toat it will require a lot of beating . As ha* been already stated the Brigade is working on m a quiet way, seldom getting a' visit from a member of the Borough Council. As the city fathers hnve the ceotrol of the Brigade tho latter decided to invite them to iuspe.ot the plant and witness a practice m order that th«y might judge for tbem-s-lves that evt rything wae al right. An invitation was accordingly extended and en Monday night the 0 mnoil deputed two of its member* to visit the station on the following evening. The Couno llors oame not, however, aud this oanned much disappoint ran t to the expectants who o n«ider that a little interest shown by ttie Council m the practical working of tho Btigade won* tea d to the benefit of eve»yone concerned Although tho Councillors d d not turn up, a repre«enta« tive of this paper had a look at thn plant, which is well kept and sufficient to mset ail ord nary requirements. Tap book and ladder apparatus is the oolj weac poiot m the equipment theoarrige bein^ small and rickety. Toe OoiMoil would not ba injudicious m spending a small sum to provide a pair of whee's and shafts, which are needed to make the carriage effioient. We notioed an ingenious contrivance, the invention of Fireman W, B Compton, for rolling hose whi h supersedes the present method of rolling by hand and does the work quicker and better, Following are the members of the team whioh will represent the Brigade at the Chrfotchuroh Demonstration: — Deputy Foreman Nokes, Firemen Oompton, Baker, McDonald, and Undrill. Emergency man : Firmnao Clark. Lieut. Dolman, the instructor, accompanies the team. Captain Scott will be the Brigade's delegate to the Conference. The annual meeting of the Brigade was held at the old Borough Oounoil chambers lost evening* The chair was oooupled by Captain Scott. Correspondence In referenoe to the vltit of the competing team to tba demonstra. tlon at Ohristohuroh was read and dealt • with. The reports of offiien wers next tabeo. The affairs of the Brlg*d were shown to be m a satisfactory condition, the oaptafn alluding to the oordlal terms vrhioh existed between the Brigade and the Borough Oounoil. The committees report dealt exhaustively with the work of tha last year aud concluded oy stating that the Brigade was standing on lolld ground mid working m perfect huricony with the Boroogh Oounoil, public, and eaoh othtr. Come what m»y they wonld be found as one man ever ready and ever willing to bray* any danger, whioh m the oourse of thetr duty they might be called upon to face. Tha election of officers resulted as follows :— Committee, Deputy Foreman Nok»s, Firemen Clark, Oompton, Parkin and Hefford. OapUln Scott was re-eleoted to the captaincy, Lieut Dolman, Foreman Qakine, and Deputy Foreman Nokes ware ia-eleoted to their respective position*. Fireman TJndrili was elected Treasure! and Fireman Cprnptoa Secretary, The turn of £3 3s was ; voted towar#| he purohaae qf a present for Ltaat, DolmsD, In recognition of his serylccs ifi the Brigade, The badness of the annual msftlag having been cono!uded, the member 9 spent a soolal hour together, A few toasts ware honored, and songs wtre OOAf trlbuted by snvoral of thote preioot,