THE LATE FIRE.

Observer, Volume 6, Issue 150, 28 July 1883, Page 4

THE LATE FIRE.

;" . Old-fogeyism and fossildom have scored another ( „ innings. Some, old identities, who bury them- ' selves in their own inner consciousness, and pay £ little or. no heed to what is passing in the outer ■ world, cannot realise that it is moving on at a j • 'pace which would have astonished and fright- : ; ehed ' • our grandfathers. Modern inventive • • 'science has devised many improvements in the ■, 7 ! meatts for the prompt suppression of fires, or the i ' limitation of their area, but owing to a spirit of . . laistzfaire, or old fogoyism, Auckland is far behind other places, of less population and commereial importance, in these matters. In ■, Wellibgton an(jl other towns in the Colony relays of horses 7 are kept night and day in the engine- ■ rooms, harnessed' an readiness for' immediate ■ 'service, lookout stations are appointed at promi- c nent points, and the' fire' brigades are liberally . supplied with all the latest apparatus. „,' , . '.— — - — ; — »"■- ■ ■ , ', ,' \ . \

On the outbreak of fire in the Union Sash and Door . Company's Factory, there were not horses f available to draw the engines, and the,, firemen , had to drag theni through mud,. and raiu to the , scone of the conflagration. Mr Hughes and his j men appear .to have done all they, could "with g the miserable appliances. a| .their command," but : ] pro,bably the delay hadpbeen fatal to any really ' effective action.. In theaci cases,,. pspeciallj'-^y.hpre j a fire breaks out, amid.st. a large, store of highly inflammable material, promptitud.Q .is of the lust . importance, but this .is precisely what, was lacking on this occasion. Had it not foeen, for the • heavy rain which fell, and the buffer interposed' by the railway omb'ankmont, it is impossible to- ) say with any certainty where the conflagration - -would have stopped. . ■ ■ ; . „• ' • . — — • r •• ■' •' '

It is to be tyopod that, this 'fire in Mechanics'' i IJay .will act a' lessori,. 'tp'tlte City Ooixnoii' J apd I v' iijeurance companies.. tf^warida'j oi -.epbc.v^siionths i

iigbiy^pojintea ■yput'fca^.>dan^p;pf aft/pn|bre^K,<>t are iVt-tms a^ft^Vj)? l^ PP^.^A. */ . B^ .' "HW 3 " . bratitig' what "might v ijappenV" The' .'place ' was' accessible to vagrants, apd. larrikins, and a lighted match thrown away by a careless smoker might at any moment set the surrounding stacks . of timber in a blaze. , . ■