South Canterbury Times, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2378, 30 October 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1880.

Tin-: efficiency of: flic Tinuiru Volunteer Fire Brigade, and flic Timani Constabulary was submitted to a tolerably good practical test by the somewhat imposing lire which demolished one of the rickctty match-box remnants of Old Timaru known us the Mechanics’ Institute. The wooden structure stood alongside of the hall of justice, almost rubbed elbows with the police station and was within gunshot of the Fire Brigade station. Under such circumstances the men and officers upon whom the duty of dealing with burning tenements devolves had a capital chance of displaying their celerity. With the brigadiers we are inclined to deal in a most charitable spirit, seeing that their lovelabors in the preservation of property arc anything but suitably recognised, and that the singular immunity from fires which Timaru has long enjoyed may have rendered their machinery rusty through want of practice. But the kind of alacrity exhibited by firemen, when they respond to a central fire convenient to some of their domiciles nearly half an hour after the cracked bell has given its warning tolls,is so different from that of the San Francisco firemen who slide from their beds, seize the reins and travel to the scene of a conflagration with the celerity of greased lightning, that wo cannot avoid unfavorable comment. It is from no lack of appreciation—no desire to say an unkind word of a deserving institution—that we fell impelled to call attention to the glaring shortcomings of our local firemen. Praise when fairly earned is useful ; awarded undeserved it is pernicious. Wc are not disposed to indulge in merciless censure, nor yet to sneer at the efforts of a volunteer body, and the firemen, we are satisfied, are too sensible to be imposed upon by flattery or unduly irritated by candid criticism, when it is intended for their ultimate benefit. There may be causes for the delay that occurred in turning out, with which wc

arc unacquainted, but. there can be no excuse for the lamentable want of system and organisation disphiyod after the scene of the fire was reached. We are free to acknowledge that so far as results went, no body of firemen in the world, similarly situated, could probably have achieved a greater success than the brigade attained. Individually the men worked like heroes, sparing neither exertion nor personal sacrifice—working in Tact as if the issue were a matter of life and death. That with the intense white heat that prevailed they were able to prevent the lire from spreading to a weatherboard cottage divided only from the burning building by an extremely narrow passage, is a proof that there was no absence of heroic effort and stubborn determination. But it required no trained eye to perceive that the brigade suffered from a want of proper organisation—that in short, like the British army, the pluck and valor were there in abundance but the men were infcriorly officered. It is always a sad sight, whether on a field of battle or at a fire, to sec energy going waste for want of proper supervision and direction, and we certainly had an exhibition of it last evening. The firemen acted just as an active body always acts when it is bereft of its head, they made frantic spasmodic leaps, rushed about for a time with their engines and hydrants and horses in every direction but the right one, pumped water on the slates, then on the the courtyard, and perpetrated the absurdity of trying to extinguish Vesuvius with a shower bath. First they ran to the public baths, then they retreated to a small private tank, and finally, when this was exhausted, they returned to Mr Ilallam’s useful establishment, to which they ought to have attached their hose at first. In this manner a great deal of valuable time was lost, and although on the principle that “ all’s well that ends well ” they undoubtedly achieved all the the success that was possible, still they displayed a want of that method, good judgment and presence of mind which is not only valuable but indispensiblc to the efficiency of .a fire brigade. For this wc do not blame the men ; they worked with the energy of desperation,

but they evidently wanted a cool-headed capable commander. And now one word with regard to the police and the crowd. The. amiable guardians of our rights and liberties, will, we trust, pardon us if we avoid the well-trodden path of the journalistic sycophant and refuse to befool them with flattery. We have plenty of stereotyped pleasantries, such as “ the police deserve every credit for the way in which they preserved order,” but we arc not going to play the part of the hypocritical boa constrictor which beslavers its victim preparatory to devouring him. If there was any disorder at last night’s fire the spectators were certainly not responsible for it. For a large assemblage of men and women, a more orderly one could scarcely be imagined. They looked on from a respectable distance —for the heat of the lire forbade a nearer approach. A 'more unemotional assemblage in front, of a formidable representation of eternal torment it would be difficult to imagine. The mob looked on amazed and interested —some pleased that an old rookery was following the example of an ancient prophet, others who had suffered by litigation and ascribed their losses to the defective accoustic properties of the Courthouse, audibly regretting that that structure was too substantial to suffer by its proximity. But the police had to make a display and a display they made. A mounted constable on a prancing steed imperilled the lives and limbs of a portion of the crowd, while an officer of police, by way, we presume, oflan example to ids humble subordinates, rushed round twirling bis blackthorn in a way, which but for the excellent temper of his audience, might have had an infuriating effect. The constables urged on “to do or die,” could hardly do less than roughly button-hole some of the civilians, but there was no need when the main street was cleared by the heat, for the attempt that was made to drive the well-behaved onlookers off the footpath and through the fences. We do not deny that there was some disorder and a good deal of it too, but it was certainly not on the part of the citizens of Timaru,who assembled at last night’s fire. The individuals who really did good service were the few men who risked their skin in saving the cottage alongside of the Institute, and the civilians who with an improvised raft, saved a valuable library.