The Sun.
London, England, 1862-08-25 00:00:00

FIRES IN THE METROPOLIS.

Some years since there used to be a fine dog,
called Jockey, who always attended every fire. He
belonged to no one, and recognised no master ; but as
sure as the engines were called out, so sure was it
that the dog would be present. The Duke of Suther-
land is something like this interesting quadruped
in his tastes for fires, as when his grace is in town,
and any fire of note takes place, we always see re-
corded the great assistance rendered by the duke,
who works as indefatigably, and with as much
energy, as the most zealous fireman. This peculiar
taste of the Duke of Sutherland is, however, likely
to be of great advantage to the public generally,
but more especially to the inhabitants of the capital.
The duke has satisfied himself that the present
means we have for putting out fires are quite in-
adequate to the requirements of this vast metropo-
lis. The London Fire Brigade is as fine an orga-
nised body as any in the kingdom ; the new land
steam engines work well, and throw an immense
weight of water in a wonderfully short time; but
still these means, it is contended, are not even yet
sufficiently powerful or numerous, and therefore the
Duke of Sutherland has induced several of his
friends to form themselves into a committee to in-
quire into the best methods of extinguishing fires.
Subscriptions are asked for from the public, and
especially from the insurance offices, with the view
of making experiments and offering premiums for
the best proposition for speedily extinguishing fires.
The melancholy deaths of Mr. Barrett and his two
daughters will do much to induce the parties to
support the very reasonable and practical proposi-
tion of the Duke of Sutherland, Hitherto the only
method generally in use against fire is its natural
enemy, water ; but in the present advanced state of
chemical science, perhaps if attention were espe-
cially directed to the subject some other more effective
agent may be discovered. At present, in the vast
majority of cases, when a fire occurs, the premises
where it originates are generally destroyed, and the
efforts of the fire brigade seem to be directed more
to prevent the fire spreading to adjoining property
than to save the house itself. This would appear
to have been the case at the late fire in Cumberland-
street, and is one of the points to which the Duke
of Sutherland wishes to direct attention. Some
years since a fire annihilator was invented by a Mr.
Phillips, which promised to bring about a complete
revolution in the method of extinguishing fires;
but, from some cause or other,, it did not find favour
with the insurance companies, and it fell into dis-
use in the metropolis. Not so, however, in the pro-
vinces, where it is still constantly in use with very
great and marked success. No town, perhaps, in
the kingdom has such a bad name for fires as
Gravesend, in Kent. The insurance companies
look with something like dread on every policy is-
sued on property in that town. Of late years the
fire annihilator has been in general use, and with
most satisfactory results. They are especially use-
ful before a fire has got to too great a head, and is
confined within the house. In such cases they
scarcely ever fail, and it is believed if one of these
machines had been used in the late Mr. Barrett's
premises that not only the house, but also the lives
of the unfortunate gentleman and his children,
would have been saved. Last session of Parliament
a considerable amount of valuable information was
collected by Mr. Hankey's select committee on the
prevention of fires ; but the line of inquiry was di-
rected more as to the constitution of the force to be
employed. It was shown that, owing to the size
of the metropolis, the present fire brigade was
wholly inadequate; that the force required to be
doubled, if not trebled; and that the extra cost
would be more than compensated for by the large
amount of property that would be saved. The com-
mittee's recommendations we have already referred
to, and it now only remains for Parliament to give
effect to them, which will probably be done next
session. The Duke of Sutherland proposes to
carry on an investigation on the branch of the
subject which the committee left untouched,
so that in the event of legislation being
sought, Parliament may be put in possession of
information on the question of the best force to be
employed, and the best means to be adopted for
the extinguishing of fires. The subject may not
at first appear to present many features of interest
to the public, but we confess to anticipate consider-
able beneficial results from the course proposed to
be taken by the Duke of Sutherland, His position
and immense wealth will enable him to obtai❑ much
valuable information, which a less distinguished
person might fail to extract. The value of pro-
perty in the metropolis can scarcely be estimated,
it is so enormous; but great as it is it sinks into
comparative insignificance when compared with the
saving of human life. Every year, notwithstand-
ing the great good effected by the machines belong-
ing to the Society for the Protection of Life from►