The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5179, 27 October 1877, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27.

“ Burnt to death a mother and five children!” Such was our startling announcement a few mornings ago, and not very many mornings previously we told of the death of a child by fire in this town. Simultaneous with these deaths wo recorded large losses of property. Every European mail brings us harrowing accounts of fearful loss of life and property; not unfrequently we read that whole cities are destroyed by it. It is not a little startling to reflect that now, in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, we are not only not fireproof, but almost powerless against that destroying element. From the earliest times, from the period of pre-historic lake dwellings in Switzerland downwards, fire has consumed or laid waste men’s goods and chattels. Huge cities, like Troy, Jerusalem, and Eome, were burnt to the ground. Since pre-historic times man has learnt much; with great patience and care and skill he has solved the riddle of the world’s history; he has traced his own ancestry back to the world’s childhood; he has gauged the stars in their courses, and by spectrum analysis has learnt the composition of sun, moon, and stars. Steam obeys his behest, and electricity is his servant. His knowledge of these and a thousand other topics is marvellous; scarcely less marvellous is his astounding inability to quench fires. All savages, from those pre-historic Swiss lake dwellers and old dolman builders down to the Australians, used water to quench fires. Apparently we, who pride ourselves on our science and culture, are in this respect not more learned than the savages whom wo contemptuously regard. It really is astonishing. Science that has advanced so far should have taught us more and remedied this. We must confess to feeling somewhat wearied of hearing only oft-repeated long stories of the wonderful rapidity with which the brigades turn out, of the heroic conduct and great activity of the firemen. We are willing to give all praise to the brigades; but we should like other remedies for this evil. The brigades are all very well under certain conditions and during a calm, but during a gale they are powerless. In Wellington the only means of extinguishing fire is a free use of water—water that is often absent when wanted. In both the late fires, forlong periods it was not available when most needed; the flames roared, the houses caught fire, while the brigades idly folded their hands and let the buildings burn—they might as well have been a hundred miles away. It is high time that this state of things was altered. With the large amount spent on the old and new reservoirs Wellington should night and day have plenty of water. If the water is turned off at night or during the day, it acts as a premium to rascals who can first insure their houses, and then burn them down, knowing well that if the brigades arrive in time they cannot immediately get water. If we are not to have water night and day, why are wo saddled with so heavy a water debt ? why do we pay so heavy a water rate 1 Supposing that the water is laid on always, we believe it may be used in many cases - more advantageously than is now the case. If the fire is not far distant from the end of the hose, an apparatus like that at the end of an ordinary garden watering-pot should be fitted on, so that instead of one narrow stream acting on one small spot, and wasting great quantities of water, the stream should fall like a very heavy drenching shower over a large area and fill the building with a soaking atmosphere, so that it cannot burn. Science teaches us that fire is an effect of intense chemical action ; two things, wood and air, combine, and as a result houses are burnt to the ground. Take one of the combining elements, wood or air, away, and the fire goes out. We cannot take away the wood, but we can exclude the air. If a woman’s clothes catch fire, they can be smothered by a wet blanket, i.e., by excluding one fuel—air. Liquid ammonia, chlorine carbonic acid, and other gases, and some vapors, extinguish fires. Under great pressure ammonia, or carbonic acid, is forced into a barrel of water, when the tap is turned a noise like a near thunderclap is heard, as the* gas and water rush violently to the fire ; the steam and gas shut out the air, and the flames are quickly smothered. Compressed carbonic acid and steam will put out 100 blazing tar barrels in three minutes, when water alone seems powerloss. If each brigade took one or more casks full to a fire, they would not be so dependent upon ournever-to-be-got-when-wantod water supply. It would, too, check rapidly any spread of the fire. All the police should have special fire training. In London this is to be carried out, and the force of 300 regular firemen will be assisted by a brigade 10,000 strong of policemen acting as a tire militia. Every policeman should be able at once to direct a stream of water against a house long ere the brigades arrive. Every house, large or small, should be provided with a hose, so that anyone can at once drown a fire in its babyhood. Constantly we hearof somefireman or outsider bravely striving to save life amid blinding choking smoke; and almost invariably his efforts are failures. This should .not happen now, because a couple of years ago Professor Tyndaw., while experimenting on the subject of spontaneous generation, discovered that cotton wool was efficacious in filtering air from germs and dust. He at once suggested that cotton wool respirators should be worn by travellers in malarious or fever-stricken districts, to keep out the germs. He showed, too, that cotton wool will filter smoke. Head-dresses are now made to cover head and face, with glass to protect the eyes, and cotton wool to filter the smoke. A fireman thus clad can see and live and work for ten minutes in a smokefilled room, while an unprotected man would immediately be blinded and choked. This invention has saved many valuable lives. In designing houses architects should specially arrange means of escape from fire. Surely our artichects, engineers, or builders should be able tell us how to.build fireproof houses; or, atleast, point out the least inflammable methods. Another point should be attended to quickly by the City Council, because the longer the delay the greater the danger and cost. Wellington is a long, slender town, up and down ,tho whole length of which blow tho two chief winds. If a fire broke out during one of those winds, it would burn from ono ond to the other. To pre-

vent this, spaces not built on should be left the city could then only burn a block at a time, and like a ship with watertight compartments, would not be wholly destroyed if one were damaged. One space might extend from the sea to the cemetery; one might bo formed in Willis-street; and another near the recreation ground. We would suggest that Parliament should appoint a committee of experts to inquire into the best means of preventing tires, and of checking conflagrations. It is a question of vital interest to every town and hamlet throughout the country, and is of far more importance than the enacting, amending, and repealing of the numberless Bills with which Parliament each session attempts to deal. Our City Council should exert itself in this matter, which is of far more value to us than the spending of £50,000 on streets. The whole subject cries aloud for most earnest consideration, a consideration which should bo given at once, or we may find ourselves homeless and penniless.