A CURIOUS MONOPOLY

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume II, Issue 142, 30 July 1880, Page 1 (Supplement)

A CURIOUS MONOPOLY

1 1 seems that in the midst of a gene-,' eon 11 ignition a Japanese iiousohoid'-rs cm only insure immunity for his property by promptly offering a sufficient bribe to the firemen. When this is done, the latter are perfectly reckless as to the destruction of other property in carrying out their contract ‘ Here is a vast city,” says the ‘ Tokio Times, ’ ‘containing a million of inhabitants, all peculiarly exposed to the extremes!; hazards of fire, and without a solitary steam machine in use or existence—with hardly an efficient land .engine at command. It is an historical fact that during a conflagration in 1873 a steam engine, brought to Japan on speculation, was put in operation with a success that showed how easily a dozen such could keep the city permanently free from peril. In less than a week after the triumph upon which he had been vainly congratulating himself, the exhibitor found it desirable to leave the capital with his machine, which was straightway reshipped for America. The experiment has never been repeated, and why ? Because the firemen will not allow it, There is no other answer and none is offered. Until the firemen cf Tokio are disbanded, their organisation broken, and their leaders rendered incapable of further conspiracies against the security of the community at large, no genuine protection will be possible.’