CORRESPONDENCE.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3530, 31 October 1882, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

FIRE BRIGADES' COMPETITION

("To the Editor of the Daily Tbleoeaph.] Sir,—ln your leading article on Saturday last you advocate a competition between tbe various brigades in the colony to be held at Napier at the meeting of delegates in January next. I am certain that tho local brigades would do all iv their power to make the gathering a success, and I also believe that the public will as liberally subscribe towards prizes as hitherto ; but, Sir, there are obstacles of which you cannot have been aware at the time you wrote the article. The question of an international competition was brought before the last meeting of the association, but it was almost unanimously discarded owing to its impracticability. The argument was, that take away eight of the best men from any brigade would leave them in a temporary state of inefficiency. Send eight men away from either of the local brigades, and you would find that, in case of a large fire, the town would be in a very sorry plight. You say that you believe a team consists of four men only, but on that point you have been misinformed, as it was found at our last local competition, when the captain of the Napier team strongly objected to run any of the principal events with four men ; the reason then given was that it was too bard word for the number of men. There are other drills that could be performed by four men only, but they do not test the efficiency of a whole brigade. What ought to be shown at these competitions is smartness, combined with strength and stability.

*• - " We have certainly much to learn, but we can only do so by bringing a full team of eight men from the various places, and show us how they can work—that would be a fair test of the smartness of their brigades. There are other reasons why it is not convenient to hold a competition here in January next, but I do not wish to throw cold water on the matter, and I am confident, although our brigade may not be able to take any active part, they will do their best to make the tbiog a thorough success. By kindly inserting this in your valuable paper you will oblige—

Spitfire, Port Ahuriri. October 30, 1882.