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Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 445, 7 February 1857, Page 6

To ilid-E'c&ior of the Lyitclton Times. Ste, —In your edition' of Satin day last, you gave expression to some ideas which from the first summer 1 spent in this settlement to the present; time have held a very prominent place in-my-mind. The supply of water to a town is indeed.a very.important matter, and in a civilized community one would suppose it were hardly necessary to expatiate on the merits of the liquid element as the preserver of health, and through it. of life itself; hut I fear the subject i i too familiar to be much thought of. But there is another question of scarcely less importance omi'clel with the supply of water; t mean the preservation of life and property from lire. The peasant plants his vineyard and ploughs his fields bone-ith Jfrilv's mijuiv sky, and the cool-headed calculating Union wonders how hr> can forget the volcano slumbering beneath his feet. But the Brit on at the antipodes becomes equally thoughtless and bleeps as so in'lly with the elements of destruction around him as the light-heaited Xeapolitan on the r lopes of Vesuvius. He might l;e awakened any hour, of-the night by the thrilling cry of "Kre! fire I" and.-there is,scarcely an inhabi-

taut oi' Lyflclton who has so much as a bucket of water at his door; and yet, sir, we are living1 in houses that to morrow might bs nothing but a hc.ip of charcoal. The subject is too serious fojest on, yet 1 can hardly refrain from parodying Ihe old song and singing- whenever I feel merry " Water, give us water, For indeed, indeed, 'tis good." There is a law in the British Navy wliich compels every vessel in H.M.S. to be provided with fire tanks ; those are kept constantly full of salt wafer and are placed in the store rooms on the., orlop decks of all large vessels and in such places ns avc most convenient in other ships, according to their size. Might not a similar law be made with great advantage for Lyttelton S for instance, that every house should be provided with a butt or cistern in some conspicuous place marked!' Fire Tank,'and the same to be kept full; the non-observance of the law to be- punishable by fine, <fee. My former appeals to the public having hoen unheeded, I beg to offer this as another hint from One who has Served.