The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1871.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 338, 8 February 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1871.

We suppose we may now regard it as a settled fact that the gunpowder stored at the Albert Barracks will not be removed. The anxiety felt by citizens, and the expostulations of the Press are all the same. The outcry is from time to time lulled by the report that the mass of the powder has been removed to Mount Eden, and then we find that the accumulation is continuing, aad with the most coldblooded indifference to consequences, as much explosive material continues stored in the midst of the city as would suffice to shatter all the houses of the city, and blow hundreds of human beings into eternity. This is not bravery. The brave are reckless only of their own lives ; and cheerfully face death when duty calls. He is- not a brave man, but simply a fool that places his own life needlessly in danger. And no brave man ever willingly exposes the lives of others; and it is especially a characteristic of the brave to show a tender solicitude for the lives and safety of helpless women and children. The massacre that would result from an explosion in the Albert Barrack would be such, that the mere thought of it is sufficient to make the really brave anxious; and could only be regarded with indifference by the callous selfishness of heart that is ever concomitant with cowardice. The report current yesterday that a man was detected in an attempt to fire the magazine by the means of squibs, may or may not be true. But after the diabolical exJnbition of malignity exhibited in the recent cases of incendiarism, the report is easily credible. It does not, however, require an attempt at arson per petrated on the magazine itself, to expose the city to the danger of destruction. Anyone present during the conflagration at the Music Hall, and observing the enormous height and distance to which the burning cin^ ders were borne, can testify to the'

peril to which the citizens were ex-! posed by the proximity of the powder magazine. We presume it is in vain to utter any further protests against the continuance of this slumbering volcano in the mid3t of our homes. But we cannot help once more denouncing the murderous action of red tape in leaving helpless citizens night and day in momentary peril of destruction.