stations were of great value; and fires were on seve ral occasions extinguished by a jet from the hydraut before the arrival of the engines. As far as I remem ber, things were much this state when 1 went ou furlough in 1871. But on returning from leave I found that during my absence of eighteen months, the pressure on the mains bad decreased to such an extent that it was no longer of much use for the pur- poses of fire extinction; and besides this. the water was now so seldom turned on in the mains that the atreet pings could not even be relied on for the small supply of fresh water necessary for the boilers of the steam engines.
I was informed by the thon Acting Surveyor-Gene- ral that this change was caused by the large number of new pipes connected with the mains for tho supply of Chinese houses in different parts of the town. The dearth of water increased, aud towards the end of 1873, by order of the Superintendent of the Fire Brigade, the subaidiary posts were abandoned as use- less and the boses returned to store.
For the last two or three years the hydrant supply has been so preourious that even for supplying the boilers they are seldom resorted to until every other souree has failed. By giving previous notice to the turncock a good supply may be obtained from the street pings in certain parts of the town, but in this case the delay is so great, and the result so uncertain, that its utility is greatly enrtailed for the purposes of this Department.
Well, upon that a minute was made to the Surveyor-General :----
Befer this to the Surveyor-General, and ask him what steps be can take to restore the water supply to the state it was in a few years ago as described by the Superintendent of the Fire Brigade.
Then the Surveyor-General immediately re.' ported :-
There is the same volume of water now as formerly, though of course the allowance per head of inhabitants has diminished by the increase of population since 1869. There was then, as Mr. Creagh rightly observes, great pressure on the mains, whereas now there is noue at all. This is owing to the practice which was followed without due consideration up to 1873 of in. discriminately granting permits to lay private water pipes to houses from the mains, instead of reserving the whole of the supply for the public hydrante, where every rate-payer, rich or poor, could have procured his daily provision on the same footing of equality, while the Government could have retained exclusive control over the pressure for cases of emergency like fire.
At present, the numberless house-pipos everywhere bleeding the mains make it impossible to resture to the latter their former pressure. The chief arteries are in fact in such a state of depletion, that in order to enable the water to travel any distance, it becomes noceasary to cut off the rest of the city and to con centrate the whole of the force upon one particular district at a time, each district in its turn being as sisted in this manner once during the 24 hours. Per- mity for house supplics were stopped in 1873, too late to do any good, as enough of them had already been issued to work the present ischief, but as there is so much rebuilding and restoration of the house pro perty going on all over Victoris just now, I think the evil might be somewhat lessened in course of time by declining to re-grant permits to these new structures: this would be tantamount to calling back former per. mits issued to the old ones.
The Attorney-General remarks that in all equity parties suffering from the fire should be restored as far as possible to their former position, which opinion would naturally meet on general grounds with every- body's concurrence, but on the other hand it should also be weighed whether, on the ground of public ex- pediency and looking to the exhausted condition of the public hydrante, the Government might not properly avail itsolf of the opportunity to assist the latter by declining to renew the permits. It is probable that if we had had water enough on Christmas night the fire would not have spread as it did.
Bot of course the remedy for all this is more water from fresh sources.
Upon that the following minute is made
*
The Surveyor-General's clear and practical report shows how this deficient water supply for fire brigade purposes has occurred.
I agree with him that we must increase our water supply. Looking at present simply to the question of getting more water for extinguishing fires, I should be glad if he would confer with Mr. Creagh, the Acting Head of the Fire Brigade, and the Hon. P. Ryrie (who has from time to time made valuable anggestions to the Government on this subject), and consider the possibility of utilising, more than has hitherto been done, the water in the harbour.
As the town of Victoria is built on a slope along the water's edge it might be possible to construct Fire Brigade tanks on the upper levels, or to adopt other mouns for increasing the supply
Well, that minute I made on the 1st May, and I am happy to say the three gentlemen to whom I entrusted that important question have made, as it seems to me, a very practical report. They
say:-
The undersigned, having met several times to dis miss the question of the insufficiency of water for the extinction of fires in Victoria, now submit as the re- salt of their deliberations the project of high-level tanks and Fire Brigade mains, elaborated by the! Surveyor-General in the accompanying plans and eatinates.
They are of opinion that the project would receive
the support of the Community, and that the outlay of fifty thousand dollars, though large, is one which-- after the experience of last Christmas Day--may pro- perly be recommended to the Executive.
If the Tytam Scheme for an increased water-supply for general uses be not feasible, they consider that, looking to the danger of destruction which house-pro perly continues to insur, no time should be lost in securing a snaient storage of water, at least for Fire Brigade purposed, and with reference to such a etor- age they desire to point out that the present proposal of special Fire Brigade mains would be none the less desirablo even in the event of the realization of the Tytam Scheine.
By the plan of inter-connected tanks now submitted, it will be possible to concentrate six hundred and thirty thousand gallons on any fire between the Sailors' Home and the City Hall, and as the pressure on the proposed Fire Brigade inains will suffice to send a stream over the tops of the highest houses, the aid of fire-engines will not be required. These, however, would contiune to play a most important part in pumping au additional apply from the soa.
The undersigned, however, can only recommend the project now submitted, on the assumption that the most jealous care will be taken to prevent any con hexion between the special Fire Brigade mains and the actual water-muins of the city, as such a con. nexion would be fatal to the project by destroying the pressure which it should be sought to maintain intact at every fire-plug.
The undersigned avail themselves of this opporta- nity to call the attention of Government to the grave necessity of dredging the Praya foreshore, at certain places already indicated by the Superintendent of the Fire Brigads, to a depth sufficient to adrait of fire. engines being usefully employed during the hours of
J. M. DICE. E. RYRIS.
low tide.
C. V. CREAQII.
Hongkong, 17th September, 1870.
I will only add, gentlemen, ou ray own consi- doration, before I saw the report, the general conclusions at which I arrived were as follow:--- That the supply of water for extinguishing fires in Hongkong is not sufficient; that the Fire Brigade should be placed under the con- trol of a skilled officer; that a competent en- gineer should be obtained who would devote his whole time to keeping the engines and other apparatus in proper order; that a larger number of permanently paid fireruen should be employed; that the system of using bydrants seems to be well suited for the greater part of the town of Victoria. These were the conclusions at which I myself arrived from the correspondence in my hands. and after having had the opportunity of consult ing with those who are really the largest bouse- holders in the colony, that is. th native com- munity. They take the greatest interest in this subject, and are clearly of opinion that the course you have suggested to-day is that which we ought i to follow. I have expressed my opinion in the Conneil Chamber that the practice of blowing down houses is a barbarous one, and that weshonld devote ourselves to humressing the water supply in the first instance, and to the reorganisation of the brigade. I hope we shall do both together. With respect to the question of the expenditure of $50,000 for the high-level water-tanks and the additions! salary required for thoroughly competent men, I au of opinion that this is an on lay which the colony ought to undertake. I am not one of those who believe it is your duty- as representing Fire Insurance Companies-to extinguish fires. You perform certain important commercial functions, both for the shareholders and the public in general, bat the duty of ex- tingnishing fires I believe to be the duty of the Government; and in coming to me to-day and and making suggestions you have fulfilled another function, and a very important one, of Fire Insurance Companies. On the whole, gentlemen, I agree with what you have said, but, without pledging myself to anything you have put before me as to the reorganisation of the brigade. That will depend on the suggestions of the gentleman who comes out from London. Any suggestions you may wish to make at any other time will receive my best attention.
Hon. W. Keswick-I would only remark, your Excellency, that the cost of the Man. chester and Liverpool Brigades is singularly swall. That of Manchester is only $2,000 per anuam, and that of Liverpool €2,871. I men- ion this matter, not that I for a moment ob- 'ject to seeing any expendituro in Hongkong to obtain efficiency, but simply as an instance of now cheaply it can be had at home.
His EXCELLENCY--You.
Hou. W. KESWICK thanked his Excellancy for receiving the deputation, and the members withdrew.
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