THE FIRE BRIGADE.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 440, 12 June 1902, Page 2

THE FIRE BRIGADE.

(To the Editor of the Times.) Sir,—Can you tell me what district the lire brigade coniines its operations Why 1 ask the question is on account of the attitude of the brigade in connection with the fire by which Mr, McKinley's residence was destroyed. A couple of firemen were all that were to seen at the fire, though it is said thak many assembled promptly lower down the town. The lire was just about a. mile from the firebell, in the Borough, and on the main road. The time was

four in the morning, 'which is not so very inconvenient an hour for people to turn out of their beds. The' firemen might not have been able to do much ; they could not have reached the house in time to save life if there had been such danger, and as there was not any high wind blowing, the coaches were fairly safe ; But none of these things

could have been known to the brigade. What ought to be settled is what area the. brigade operates im I hope tnat Councillor Hepburn, as the champion of the upper end, of the town will look into this matter. The brigade, we all know, at times does; splendid work,but if their operations are not to go as far as a mile from the firebell—which is at one corner of the town—then the people at the upper end should also be forgotten when the question of rates is being considered. There is growing up the dangerous tendency to regard the vicinity of Kaiti bridge as Gisborne, and it is nearly time that the upper end of the town set about the organisation of a West End corner in municipal matters. What many of us want to’hear,

now is, why did not the fire brigade muster at a fire only about a mile distant from the lower part of the town, and is it to be understood that the uptown people have no call on the brigade, though they have to contribute a share to the cost of fire prevention appliances ? An early answer would be deemed a favor.—l am, etc., WEST END.