The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1870.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 250, 24 October 1870, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1870.

In looking over our Wellington exchanges we find in an article in the Post of the 17th inst., on the question of a water supply for that city, the following remarks : — "In au infinite variety of ways the ratepayers would derive immense advantages from the possession of proper waterworks, aud in uo way would the monetary saving be more apparent than in the reduction of tlie rate of insurance premium. In some towns it has been found that this reduction fully balanced the amount charged for water rate ;| and we have no doubt, that a similar result would be experienced here if a thoroughly sufficient supply of water at a high pressure was always available iv case of fire." We in Nelson have had some little experience in these matters, and are in a position to assure the inhabitants of Wellington that never did they commit a greater error than in supposing for one instaut that the amount of risk to be ineuiTt-d iv any way influences the insurance companies in determining their scale of charges. This may seem a strange assertion to make, but unfortunately Nelson householders know to their cost that it is only too true. When first our waterworks scheme was mooted, it met with many opponents, and, in order to do away with the opposition that existed, those in favor of the scheme made use of the very same arguments^that are brought forward iD tho paragraph we have quoted from our Wellington contemporary. And a very sound aad reasonable argument it appeared to be, for it simply amounted to this : — Here we are liviog in a town composed of wooden houses, and if a fire breaks out in any of the more thickly populated streets, we have no means of preventing its spreading beyond that afforded by a very insufficient engine. The water service we propose to establish will be of a first-class character, and the pressure will be such that a powerful jet can with ease be thrown over the highest building in the town. If by such a system of waterworks we put an effectual stop to the possibility of an extensive fire occurring, we may naturally infer that the insurance companies will reduce their premiums in proportion to the amount of risk run, and consequently that the water rate we are willing to impose upon ourselves, will not be an absolute addition to our present taxation, but wil! to some exteut be met by the decrease iv our insurance expenses. Alas for poor trusting Nelson ! She was actually simple enough to suppose that the directors of these companies would be disposed to act in a spirit of common fairness, and equity, towards those who were willing to assist them by lessening their risks. But what are the facts, and to what extent are they in accordance with the very reasonable expectations formed by those who were desirous of securing to their towu comparative immunity from the devastations of fire ? Wellington people, as sanguine now as we were some four years ago, will with difficulty credit us when we inform them of the present state of things in Nelson, but every householder in the place can vouch for the correctness of our statement. We have a water supply, which, in proportion to the size of the town benefitted by it, is second to none in the world, and we can boast of a most efficient fire brigade, the members of which, on the first tone of the alarm bell being struck, are immediately on the alert, and in an incredibly short space of time are pi'esent at the scene of danger with all the necessary apparatus for extinguishing a fire. In order to show that this is no vain boasting we vvill recount a few facts. In April, 1 1868, a fire broke out in a wooden house in Hardy-street, and before the alarm was given the flames were bursting out through the roof. Within three feet of the burning building, on one side was another house of the same materials, and on the other side, at a not much greater distance, there was also a wooden building. Owing to the delay in giving tbe alarm, the flames bad obtained a firm hold before

the brigade were on the spot, and by that time the heat was so iuteDse that it was impossible to approach within some yards of the fire, but the hoses were soon connected with the pipes, and strong jets of water quickly playing on the burning building, and within a quarter-of-an-hour from the alarm being first given, the flames were subdued, neither of the neighboring houses being damaged iv the slightest degree. Three or four months ago another fire broke out in a wine and spirit store at two o'clock in the morning; the bells were rung, the brigade turned out, and before those who lived in the outskirts of the town had time to reach the scene of the fire, the flames were extinguished, the house itself not being damaged to any very great extent, while those within a few feet of it escaped without even a blister on the paint. A few weeks later, the same thing occurred in Bridge-street, and through the agency of the water and the praiseworthy efforts of the brigade, the insurance offices were saved some hundreds of pounds. Will it be believed that, although the town posseses all these appliances for extinguishing a fire, the efficiency of which has been subjected to so mauy and such trying tests, the insurance offices have not abated their exorbitant charges by one single penny ; that the premiums are now precisely the same as they were in the days when the safety of the town depended upon one miserable little engine ? Yet such is the case, and we would warn our Wellington neighbors against hugging the delusion that an efficient water supply would have any effect whatever upon their insurance premiums. We believe "that if it were generally known that Nelson possesses such thoroughly reliable safeguards against fire, more liberally disposed companies than those to which we are now compelled to have recourse would establish agencies here, and of this we are quite certain, that if such were the case, those at present in existence would be deprived of the support tbat is now accorded to them under protest, but the right to which they have so justly forfeited by their own grasping and illiberal conduct.