NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 938, 7 January 1911, Page 2

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Elsewhere in this issue appears a letter from Mr L- J. Furrie having reference to the formation of a local branch or class of the Royal Life Saving Society. We urge its perusal. It must be apparent to any one who thinks the matter over that the formation of a class for the instruction of young and old in rescuing and resuscitating the drowning is of vital importance. A person may be a strong swimmer but his efforts in attempting to rescue a drowning person, unless he is skilled in the art, may end in the loss of his own as well as the life of the person whom he is attempting to save. How often have we read of such double drowning fatalities. It is surprising that the Education Department has not included the art of swimming in its training ot the young. Some schoolmasters adopt this voluntary extra during the summer months

and their services deserve special recognition. We cannot too forcibly recommend the importance of Mr Furrie’s kind offer of assistance to form a life-saving branch in Foxtou, and we hope the public will avail themselves of his services. Mr Fnrrie will deliver a lecture on the various life-saving methods in the Council Chamber one evening next week to be followed by a practical demonstration in the river which we hope will be witnessed by all who can make it convenient to attend.

Whkrk the safety of human life is concerned it is the duty of the controlling body to satisfy itself and the public that buildings are so constructed, equipped and managed that the risk of their destruction by fire is reduced to the least possible minimum. The recent sad occurrence in Wellington, resulting in the incineration of two inmates of the Wellesley boardinghouse, has not been overlooked by the City Council, and a close investigation of the circumstances surrounding the outbreak is to be made. The officers ol the corporation exercise a strict supervision over the plans of sub divisions in such structures, but it is considered that room for improvement still exists so far as systematic inspection is concerned. This need receives an emphasis during holidays and times of carnival generally when there is a large addition to the city’s floating population. Councillor J. P. L,uke, who, in the absence of the Mayor (Mr T. M. Wilford), is controlling the municipal administration, states that during the late holidays cases existed where the fire-escape arragements were not sufficient to cope with the extra strain on their resources that would have been imposed in the event of conflagration ; this was a matter which called for careful attention. It sounds paradoxical to say that prevention is the only remedy, but that sums up the position in regard to fires and their effects, and it is sincerely to be hoped that the City Council will make the question one ol first importance. They will thereby earn the gratitude not only of those resident in the capital, but of many country people who occasionally find it necessary to sojourn in its accommodation houses.