FIRES IN RUSSIA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1927, 24 August 1888, Page 2

FIRES IN RUSSIA.

Every summer Moscow is kept m a constant Btato of excitement by frequent fires, and it is not unusual to see four or five fires burning at the same time m different parts of the town. The primitive fire brigade with its old fashioned tubs and dilapidated ho-e, ib of little or no uae, and seldom mauagea to quench tha flames until^ the property is burnt to the ground, while occasionally valuable property is allowed to bum unohecked owing to the dearth of water. j Moscow is the richest city m Russia, ; but it is still wretohedly paved and illsupplied with water. In the summer its | inhabitants are choked with duat, and the fires and the fire-makera have it all their own way, and of the fires that do occur at least 40 per coat are due to incendiarism. Arson, indeed, has hitherto been almost as profitablo a business as the manufacture of spurious tea and false paper money. It ia particularly noticeable that Moscow shops have a perverse habit of burn- 1 ing down when business is bad. The m- i auranc > companies used to be very lenient, and overlooked such accidents, even j when they happened twice or thrice to the •< same person. Put these times are rapidly changing, CqijrtQ of law are, not bo lenient as they used to b@, and it appear that m future there will really' be some <Uoger jo letting, one's faQi^e oa fire.