AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT.

Evening Star, Issue 2989, 17 September 1872, Page 4

AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT.

The Christchurch papers report at some length the results of a recent test_ of the efficiency of the local fire brigade, which appears to have been eminently satis* factory. Perhaps the mention of it may induce Captain Wain to adopt a similar method to convince the citizens that the known and tried efficiency of our own brigade is unimpaired. An arrangement was entered into between Superintendent Harris—who in Christchurch holds a position analagous to that of Capt. Wain—and Mr Seager of the local Lunatic Asylum, in order to test the expedition with which the town fire engines could be taken to the Asylum. The only indication the brigade had of the arrangement was that on some day in a certain week a gun would be fired from a certain battery, and that was to be taken as the signal for the muster for the purpose named. The evening of the 9th inst. was selected, and the results are thus stated The steam fire-engine arrived on the spot 38 minutes from the time the message started for town, a highlycreditable fact when it is considered that the Asylum is from 2i to 3 miles from town. The hand-engine arrived three minutes earlier. The latter was at work three minutes after arrival, md the steamer, with two lengths of hose in seven minutes, The muster was 28 out of a total of 40. The Lyttelton Times remarks in conclusion: —When the riding into town, the mustering of the men, the driving out, and the getting up steam, are duly considered and allowed for, this result must he considered highly satisfactory, as indicative of great efficiency on the part of the men, to whom, it must be understood, no notice whatever had been given of the night on which the alarm was to occur.” After the muster, the Brigade was informed that the City Council had resolved to make an allowance during illness to any member of the Brigade suffering injuries whilst in the discharge of his duties, such allowance to be equal to the salary he would receive at his regular employment—an example that might be well followed by our City Council.