Sessional_Paper_1890 — Page 202

199

No.

90.

HONGKONG.

REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF FIRE BRIGADE FOR 1889,

Presented to the Legislative Council, by Command of His Excellency the Qficer Administering the Government.

No. 7.

FIRE BRIGADE DEPARTMENT, HONGKONG, 28th February, 1890.

SIR,-I have the honour to report that during the year ending 31st December, 1889, there were twenty-one fires at which the service of the Brigade were required in which fifteen houses were totally destroyed and thirteen houses partially damaged.

2. The value of the property destroyed calculated on the amount of insurance effected and a view of the premises subsequent to the fires is estimated at $98,200.

3. The return shows a considerable decrease in the number of fires as compared with that of the years 1887 and 1888, the number for those years respectively being thirty-five and forty-five, the diminution being possibly due to the proceedings under the Fire Enquiry Ordinance and to greater

caution in the issue of Fire Policies.

4. Of the fires that took place seventeen formed the subject of official enquiry under the Ordinance, with the result, generally speaking, that there were either gravely suspicious circumstances brought to light or no satisfactory explanation of the cause of fire was forthcoming. As a rule the suspicious circumstances were too negative in character to warrant a prosecution, and during the year only one such prosecution was ordered, and even this went no further than a committal for trial and terminated in a nolle prosequi.

5. Whatever may be the moral effect of these enquiries of which one can only judge hypotheti- cally, by comparing the number of fires before and after the institution of them, I am strongly of opinion that they are most necessary, and that they supply a want which had long been felt.

6. Where the fire is accidental it must be gratifying to the owner of the premises that its accidental origin should be officially recorded, and where it is the result of a crime it is important in the interests of the public that the matter should be exhaustively sifted,

7. As to whether or not the Ordinance requires improvement I do not wish to speak positively. I certainly think that a grave obstacle is placed in the way of effectual prosecutions by the inability to use in a prosecution the depositions that have been taken in an enquiry, and one also feels the want of some kind of provision by which upon a formal finding on the part of the Magistrate that the circumstances are gravely suspicious, the Insurance Companies should be thereby prohibited from satisfying claims until they have been made good to the satisfaction of a Court after consideration of the facts adduced at the enquiry.

8. These, however, are matters requiring a good deal of consideration, and I merely refer to them as the impressions which the enquiries leave upon me when conducting them.

9. The year 1889 has been notable as the year in which the Volunteer Brigade was disbanded. In existence before the establishment of the Government Brigade in 1868, they have for many years afforded valuable and willing aid at the numerous fires at which they have been present and they have contained in their ranks the flower of the youth and activity of the Colony.

10. Their disbandment led to an increase in the European element of the Government Brigade, consisting partly of Police and partly of Soldiers recruited from the regiment, and at the same time the Chinese force whose numbers were unnecessarily large was considerably reduced.

11. In other respects the Brigade has been conducted on the same lines as heretofore. There is the same Central Station, the same system of alarms and the same general orders with regard to attendance at fires. Such improvements as have been made, have been made in the matter of appliances and in the provision beforehand of every thing likely to be required at a fire, together with rules for their disposition and for the prevention of any interruption in the operations such as by the bursting of hose, the breakdown of an engine, or other ways known to those who have to deal with fires.