THE FIRE BRIGADE QUESTION.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 697, 19 February 1881, Page 2

THE FIRE BRIGADE QUESTION.

(To the Editor of tho Daily.)

Sin,—As captain of the- Masterton Volunteer' Fire Brigade, there are two or three statements in your to-day's report of the Borough Council which' I cannot allow to go unchallenged. In the first place, Cr Gappor is reported to have said, "had I seen Captain Muir, I would have spoken to liim, but he was inside the building." Well, Sir, my absence from the roof of the Club Hotel (which was not of more than three minutes duration), was to discover if the five came from inside or not, as although on the roof, the fire having got under the saddle-board, we could not tell. But directly I found no trace of fire inside, I returned to find that Inspector Gapper, without troubling himself to either go on the roof or inside the building, had not only ordered the Brigade, but the engine to stop working. The next is, that he had seen a fireman wilfully destroying property." As their, captain, and responsible for their actions, I deny this, as the members are not there to wilfully destroy, but to protect all property to their best ability. Then again he is reported, that as Fire Inspector, he. stood between the brigade and Insurance Companies, from which ono would infer that Fire Brigades were enemies of Insurance. They are,—not in the light he puts it—but in the way of smaller premiums and less business done, on account of efficient Brigades making the risk much smaller to property-holders. Yours &c., Jas. Muir, Captain M.Y.F.B.