The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1869.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 447, 6 January 1869, Page 2

The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1869.

The rapid succession of serious fires by which the towns of Timaru, Wanganui, and New Plymouth have been devastated is a succession of circumstances which should form the subject of grave consideration in colonial towns of similar situation and condition with regard to the appliances for the prevention of such disasters. The calamities have, indeed, been of so serious a character &s to justify more than mere local attention being given to them and to the precautionary measures which are necessary to prevent their recurrence. They are esfallen upon small communities, where no appliances of any kind whatever existed for the prevention or abatement of fires, and where the interests of nearly every member of the community were affected by the loss sustained. And it is especially to that fact that attention should be given, with a view to devising any scheme by which town property in small places may be protected in future. In Wellington, Lyttelton, or Dunedin, it is scarcely possible that a fire of such dimensions as that of Timaru could occur, because there exist iu these cities the appliances for extinguishing fires, and regularly organised brigades of volunteer firemen. However deficient these bodies or their appliances may be in some respects, they are, at least, capable of limiting the area of a fire, or of preventing wholesale destruction. In towns of such a class as Timaru, Wanganui, and New Plymouth, there do not exist, however, appliances of even the most meagre description, and there are many other towns in the Colony, iucluding our own town of Westport, which are similarly situated. For these towns to remain in the unprotected state in which they have hitherto been would be nothing short of iusanc neglect of public interests, aud a direct invitation of the repetition of disaster ; and, either individually or generally, it would well become such communities to consider the propriety of procuring, at least, some partial means of protection. The' non-existence of such means of protection in small places has naturally arisen hitherto from the inability of the communities to undertake the purchase of powerful fire-engines, and those expensive appliances which a*-e usually to be found in cities, and which, by the inheritance of erroneous and old-fashioned ideas on the subject, are supposed to be the only appliances which are worthy of being used. But there is no reason whv, without going to any extravagant expense, small townships should not be furnished with mechanical appliances sufficient for all their probable requirements. In the experience of the firebrigades of the different cities in the Colony where fire-brigades exist, it has been found that the smaller description of engines, down even to the simple hand-engine, has been the description of engine which, in a ma-

jonty of instances, has rendered most effective service. It is in the records of several of the brigades that the timely use of hand-engines have, in many instances, prevented what threatened to be very serious conflagrations, and the small curricle engines have been of equal utility in instances where fires have gone beyond even their first stage. Contenting themselves with such appliances, instead of endeavoring to procure the more elaborate and costly engines, small communities might, without any great outlay, secure for themselves a certain measure of protection, and we think it would be well if, in our own particular instance, inquiry were to be made as to the cost at which a light engine, with a small supply of hand-engines, could be obtained. It is true that Westport has hitherto escaped from accidents by fire, but there have not been wanting warnings as to the outbreak of fires, and the conditions are so similar to the conditions unler which the late serious conflagrations elsewhere have occurred that the continuance of the town in its present unprotected state can scarcely be contemplated without alarm. Hokitika and Greymouth are as far in advance of Westport, in the possession of preventive appliances, as they are in the possession of other local institutions ; and it is scarcely creditable to Westport that it should continue to be the one out of three West Coast towns in which no steps have been talcen by the inhabit an tsTor their self-protection. The matter might fairly form a subject of inquiry, if of nothing more; md the inquiries would as fairly come vithin the scope of the duties of the Progress Committee. We take the iberty of suggesting it as a subject for heir consideration when they next neet.