The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-15 00:00:00

FIRE ESCAPES.

Mr. Sampson Low in a letter to a contemporary says :.-
The Royal (Society has now 80 fire•escape stations in
London, every one attending all night by an experienced
and vigilant officer.
These stations, with very few exceptions, are only dis-
tant from each other half a mile, so that for the most part
any file is within 400 yards of the most efficient aid that
can be provided, to obtain with efficiency neither cost nor
ability is spred.
The connection cr application of this system in all its
value to persons in danger di,pends, as it must ever depend,
cn instant information of a fire being discovered being for-
warded to the station.

The late deplorable firo in Soho illustrates what is re•
quired. It is a simple average case, and its details prove
what I am prepared to aver, that now, wherever life is lost,
it is to be traced to the time lost immediately after the dis-
covery of the fire.

The police commissioners' main order now in force is to
the effect that the first constable on the spot shall keep the
door and not leave the fire, and that the second constable
shall ee sent for the engines, turnceck, &c" (the" &c.,
I am assured, stands for fire escapes).
A more recent minute is a little more favourable to fire
escapes, and directs that every possible assistance shall be
rendered to the fire escapes, but that no positive direction
can be laid down ; but the superintendent of each division
of police must see that his men are acquainted with the
fire-escape stations of their beat. You will at once see at
what disadvantage this places the fire escape, and the ill
effects of this want of a positive order is considerably in-
creased by the bounty paid through the police authority
from the insurance offices, viz., 10s. for discovering the fire,
and 20s. for keeping at the door. If these orders and sug-
gestions all stood on their own authority as directions the
fire escapes would stand a fair chance; but in the face of
the bounty connected with keeping close to the fire, is it to
be wondered at that the fire escapes are neglected to be sent
for until they are wanted on the spot ?
Admitting, for the sake of argument, that it is abso-
lutely necessary to employ the first constable at the fire in
keeping the door, why, I ask, should not a positive order
be given that in every case the second constable be sent to
the nearest fire-escape station. The average time taken to
run from the fire to the station would be two minutes, and
the fire escape conductor, who is not allowed to sleep, and
requires no urging, is ready prepared and able to run with
his machine 400 yards in three minutes.

I have said that the case in point was a simple average
case
in(gthfco ndistancea you only 280 yards) ; apply the rule I am
will see that the attendance of the
askr,
fire scape conductor could have been secured from five to
eight minutes earlier than it was, and that in all human
probability it would have been the means of saving the
other children.

With this I hand you a card of our scale of rewards
offered for calls and assistance, which just at the present
time you may deem of sufficient public importance to print.
It will serve to show you that every precaution is taken by
us to secure prompt notice of fires, and that really the need
at the present moment is an order such as I am, once more,
in communication with the chief commissioner to obtain,

" Members of the police force are requested to make
themselves acquainted with the fire-escape stations of their
district.

" It is of the first importance, immediately on the fire
being discovered, that the alarm be given to the nearest
Royal Society's fire escape station—not delaying an instant
Life is more valu-
able —do not wait ' to see if it is wanted.'
able than property, and events have too often proved how
fatal even a moment's hesitation is in sending for the fire
escape. Avoid givingse all doors after them. Allow no vent to the fire by breaking into the
house unnecessarily;
o and take every opportunity of urging
upon inmatefitoclose
stranger to ascend the fire-escape, and assist in preserving
it from iniarY• Amounts for calling and assisting the
fire-escape conductors Will be paid as under :—The person
giving the first alarm to a conductor, whereby he is en-
abled to arrive at a fire with the escape and save life,
55. ; if arriving before an engine, 2s 6d. ; if after an en-
glne, ls. Gd.; the second and third persons aiding each, is.
Persons claiming these rewards must assist to and from the
fire. "
SAMPSON Low, Jun., Sec."

THE FISHERIES ACT.—A case of some importance
under the new Fisheries Act was heard before the
mayor and magistrates of Shrewsbury on Monday last. Mr.
Hammonds, fishmonger, of that town, was summoned for
having unlawfully in his possession a salmon, whereby he
had incurred a penalty of 11 The summons was issued
under the 24th and 25th Vic., cap. 100, sec. 19, which im-
poses the penalty of £2 on persons buying and selling or ex-
posing for sale any fresh or uncured salmon between the 3d
of Sept. and the 2d of February following, with forfeiture of
the fish. The act also throws on the person summoned the
onus of proving that the fish was taken beyond the limits of
the Act. The facts were proved by Mr. J. Hughes, chief
constable of the borough,who found salmon exposed for sale
at the defendant's shop on the sth of. January. This being
done, the defendant produced as his witness a Mr, Garton,
fish salesman, of Dublin, who proved buying the fish from
some fishermen on the Liffey, in the presence of the Dublin
ealsfioshprot;)edMrse.
n.
nMii`nLgentnhye,fisfishhtsoalthese-
inspector.
dmeafennodfanlaivetTrPh7l' who
mayor said that on the very morning
Ho sent
that Mr. Hammond had his fish for sale, ho (the mayor)
received one as a present from a friend. The magistrates
dismissed the case, and expenses were allowed to the wit-
nesses. It seems that the fishing for salmon in the Liffey
commences on the Ist of January. This is another proof of
the necessity of making the fence time the same throughout
the kingdom. In other Irish rivers the fishing does not
COl 100 util, February, as in England.