men to go.
"I have the bonor. &e.,
** (Signed) W. M. DEANE,
Captain Superintendent." There the only reason given is the danger to the men from the state of the atmosphere, and if an enquiry is instituted it will be found that more than one person can testify that in con- versation with Mr. Deane on the morning of the typhoon the state of the weather was the one and only reason given for not sending out the men. It is therefore evident that the state- į ment of the men being kept in expectation of other requisitions was entirely an afterthought, and put forward by Mr. Deane, when he found that the first reason given would not sati-fy the public.
5th-The statement that a staff was detailed for the fire is open to question. The narrative of what took place which obtains most credence in the Colony is as follows:---
Mr. Creagh, the Deputy Superintendent of{ Police, being at the same time an Assistant Su- perintendent of the Fire Brigade, on receiving notice of the fire, requested Mr. Deane to allow the Police Voluuteers at the Central Station to turu out, bis request was refused, and he was advised not to go out himself, How- ever, after some little conversation with bis okick the latter consented to allow one fore- man of the Brigade to go out with Mr. Creagh in the hope of obtaining assistance from some men who were supposed to be at or near No. 5 Station. What number of men they might find being unknown or at least uncertain, and it is against this that I, on behalf of the Taxpayers of the Colony, most strongly protest. Tustead of a well-equipped Brigade (which oost the Colony about $10,000 in 1873) turning out with its well paid Superintendent and two Assistant Superintendenta ut ita bend, engineera, foremen, firemes, pampers, &c., with engines, ladders and all their appliances ready for use, we have merely Mr. Creagh and one foreman turning out in hopes of obtaining assistance some- where, and this was all that was done to avert what might have been the most terrible fire that ever occurred in the Colony.
"tb.-The statement to the effect that the result proved that the stuff detailed was suff. cient is contrary to fact. Out of a Brigade consisting (according to the Estimates of 1873) of 36 Europeans and 48 Obiuese constables, Mr. Creagh bad with him at the fire only one Euro- pean foreman, one European fireman, and a few Chinese coolies not included in the stated strength of the Brigade, who. I understand, are paid for pumping and taking obarge of sub- sidiary stations. The above, with one small! hand engine and a ladder, were all that repre sented the Hongkong Government Fire Brigade. The exact number of coolies who were present I do not know, but I do know that had it not been for the assistance rendered by four gentlemen from the Firm of Messrs. Gibb, Livingston & Co., and four or five of their Chi- dese boutmen, little or nothing could have been i done towards extinguishing the Fire; not only that, bat the Engine itself would probably have bat for their help been carried by the waves into the barbour and lost. After the foregoing was written, I had an opportunity of perusing the explanations of the Captain Superintendent of Police, and observed that the document is dated the 5th of October, whereas in the answer which I now protest against, I am informed that the Governor had investigated the matter and approved of the conduct of the Captaiu Superintendent, prior to the reeipt of my letter giving notice of questions, which | letter bore the date of, and was sent in, on the
1st of Octobor. The reasons assigned by Mr. Deane for not turning out the men and not notifying the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent of the Fire Brigade are about the strongest that could be urged against the course be adopted. He now, it appears, expect. ed that other Fires were likely to break out. If I am to believe this, then it was more than ever his duty to summon the entire Brigade, so that it might be assembled at a central point, say at the Cross Roads Station, and there make every preparation, get stenup in the Steam Engines, have tanks, hoses and laddere prepared; in fact have all the men and appliances ready for action in any direction at a moment's notice; bat not one of these preparations were wade, nor was there any attempt to make them, and therefore Mr. Deane's remarks regarding the inadvisability of sending out the whole force of the Brigade to one fire lose all their weight. Be should be able to prove that the Brigade was ready and equipped to move out in detach- ments, or otherwise, to cope with the expected disasters as they happened.
The statement that perfect confidence was placed in the Deputy Superintendent of Police at once forwarding an application for farther aid if it should prove requisite, is a most exira. ordinary one. The fire was not a suppositious one. It and its locale were known facts at the Central Station, as the glare could be seen, and a Sikh constable was in the charge room with a prisoner, whom he bad arrested with a box in his possession close to the scene of the fire, which was in Mercer Street. Now, for a messenger to have gone from there to the Central Station on such a night and aid arrive back to Mereer Street, certainly from three-quarters of an hour to an hour would have been lost, and in that time the fire might have got such headway that all the available force in the Colony, naval and military included, could not have stopped it.
Further, the aid grauted in the first place was so ridiculously inadequate that it is reason- able to suppose that Mr. Creagh, although argently in need of help, did not feel confident of obtaining it, if he sent for it. Besides, be could ill spare even one man from his small force to send as a messenger.
Mr. Deane's supposition that every house in the Colony would be closely barred is a reason- able one, but he has overlooked the fact that numbers of the inhabitants were out and about Queen's Road and other streets of the City from widnight until the storm began to abate, and some remaining until dayb. eak; and as to the statement of there being no glare in the sky it is notrue. In addition to those who saw it at the Central Station, it was seen by numbers of; people living to the Westward.
In concluding this Protest, I beg most re- spectfully to express my surprise that the Head of the Executive of this Colony has permitted to pase unchallenged a statement by a Subor- i dinate Officer to the effect "that the special | circumstances of the case rendered all custom. Iary regalations nugatory," seeing that numbers of the inhabitants of the Colony were out dur- ing the typhoon on the Praya and in the streets endeavouring to save life and property and the Police at the out Stations were doing likewise, while the officer, who has made the above state- ment, took care to keep within doors himself. I cannot see how he could possibly he a judge of the circumstances of the esse,
But even admitting that he was, I do not see how any officers below the Governor could put forward snek a dictum).
P. RFBIE.
Hongkong, 21st October, 1874.
367
!