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Globe, Volume I, Issue 4, 4 June 1874, Page 2

We are quite sure that the general public of Christchurch will agree with us when we say that the practice which is in vogue here of firing salutes in the city itself ought not to he permitted by the authorities. These salutes are fired at the Drill Shed, and when the position of that building is considered, it will be seen that the practice we speak of is indefensible. One of the strongest reasons we can adduce in support of our assertion is the fact of the Hospital being in such close proximity to the place of firing. As every one is aware, there are at ail times a quantity of very dangerous cases of illness, lying at the hospital. To many of the patients absolute quiet, as nearly as it is possible to obtain it, is a sine qua non, and the effect of a salute from heavy guns, being fired only some few hundred yards away, cannot be beneficial even to persons who may not be dangerously ill, but who are by no means in a state of convalescence. We do not want to prove our loyalty to the Queen, or any other member of the iioyal Family, by endangering the lives of any of her subjects who may be at the time stretched upon a bed of sickness; and if it is absolutely necessary to show this loyalty by the consumption of a certain amount of gunpowder, let it be done at a proper time and place. Do not let the inhabitants of Christchurch be roused from their slumbers, with the additional chance of having their windows broken, by the concussion consequent on the firing of big guns, when the removal by the volunteers, of the field pieces requisite for saluting, to a distance of a mile or so beyond the town, would reduce the whole-incon-venience to a minimum. We are positive that the volunteers themselves would not grudge the trouble which |such a removal would entail on them, and we are certain none ot them would be willingly engaged in causing a mischief which it would be impossible to rectify afterwards.