The Express.
London, England, 1861-07-24 00:00:00

(Stamped, ld. Additional.) [TWOPENCE

who were charged with culpability by the verdict of the
comner's inquest who sat upon the bodies who died on
board that ship on her voyage borne from India ; and if so,
if be could state to the house what the result of the inquiry
had been.

Sir C. WOOD replied that an inquiry did take place: and
the result WM that the evidence given on the coroner s in-
quest here was impugned in several particulars. Previously
to that inquiry the officer responsible in some respects for
what had taken place bad been removed from his position,
and had not been reappointa Nothing had been dose in
the awe of the officer commanding the European troops, as
it wee found that he could only have been tried by a court-
martial, and that such a proceeding would not be desirable
under the circumstances.

on all statistic, of the number of fires in Lon
don. If the amount of fires were doubled, the
premiums would be doubled, and if the fires were
trebled the premiums would also be trebled. At the pre-
sent moment this fire brigade was supported by the itsall.
ranee offices at an expense of 23,000/. a year. That amount
being a charge upon all the offices is London, it was quite
clear that it formed a part of their general expeiDditnsa.
and therefore must be repaid by the parties insuring.it
' necessarily followed that the insurers were paying or the
protection against fire of three who did not insure. (Hear(
hear.) lie contended this war altogether a wrong principle.
The late Mr. Braidwood had told him that his first duty to
his employers in case of a fire was to protect the property
which was insured. The protection of life and property
against sire ought to be taken up as a municipal question,
and he hoped the Secretary of State for the Home Depart-
ment would take the subject into his consideration. The
duty could only be effectually discharged under one uniform
system, and be thought it ought to fall exclusively upon the
police. The government were especially interested in the
matter, as there did not exist any adequate protection for
the different public buildings against fire. Although he was
not authorised to make any statement on the subject, he
believed that the insurance offices would be ready to enter
into any fair arrangement with the government for the pur-
pose of transferring the existing hre.brigade to the police
or other competent authorities.
Sir G. C. LEWIS said his hon. friend bad naturally and
wisely taken advantage of the present moment, when atten-
tion was directed to the disastrous fire at London-bridge, to
dirxt attention to the defectiveness of the present
melte for the extinction of fires in the metropolirg;
principal provision on the subject was contained in the 14th
of George 111., which provided that every London parish
within the hills of mortality should keep a proper
ilre-engine and other appliances for the extinction
of fires. He was not prepared to say what
was the total aggregate expense those parishes were put to
by the act, but it must amount to a considerable sum.
Mireertheleme, the whole of that expenditure was almost
frittered away. (Hear, hear.) It was divided into such
wheate proportions iat no single parish could be said to
contribute anything toward, the extinction of any large
firs. When the act passed there existed no organisation for
the prevention of fire, but now there was such an organise-
Hon in the shape of the metropolitan police force,
which was common to the whole metropolis with
the exception of the City of London. It was there-
fore an obvious remark, that if the expendi-
ture incurred by each parish under the act was
thrown into one common fund, and placed under one com-
mon management, that expenditure would be far more use-
fully and eoonomieally applied towards the extinction of
Sala than'et present. Whether an alteration of the law could
be made for that purpose was a point on which be would
not now express any opinion, but be quite concurred with
his hon. friend that if such an arrangement were carried
out, the means for extinguishing fire would be more effi-
cient. The existing fire brigade was a force supported
voluntarily by the different fire insurance offices at an ex-
pense of 20,0001. a year, and if its maintenance were thrown
es the p.arishesdt would only be reasonable that those
amps:use should contribute a portion of the expense.