The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-13 00:00:00

might even say private duties. In any such case it
is easy to predict in what way the decision would
given. The late Mr. Braidwood—than whom a
more conscientious man never breathed—was driven
to admit, when pressed on a certain occasion, that
he should consider it his duty to attend to insured
premises chiefly, in any case when the services of
the brigade might be invoked where both insured
and uninsured property was involved. Thus, then,
it practically happened that owners of uninsured
premises had the fear held in terroron over them,
that, because of their non-insurance, their premises
might, in case of fire, not receive the full benefits
of the Fire Brigade. The impolicy of such an
organisation as this is obvious. Insurance against
fire is doubtless a very proper precaution to take,
and when not taken the individual primarily suffer-
ing would justly bar, through his negligence, much
sympathy. If he could, by the nature of circum-
stances, remain the only sufferer, the organisation
of the Fire Brigade, though still not devoid of cruelty,
would not perhaps be impolitic. But the fact is that
when once a conflagration has broken out, nobody
knows when or where it may end. It should be
attacked on all quarters as a common enemy, irre-
spective of private considerations. We adverted to
the inefficiency of the parochial engines those mere
squirts, which, devoid of organisation, and sometimes
of equipments, are seen shambling along the streets,
drawn by hired horses, the first that come to hand
after the lapse of a convenient time from the first
appearance of conflagration. The general ineffi-
ciency of these parochial engines may be inferred
from a statement of the fact that, although there
are at this time 500 of them in the metropolis, not
more than 20 are considered efficient enough to be
accepted in the new force. The new organisation
will be entitled the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, and
will be under the management of the Board of
Works. The present force of the London Fire
Brigade will be incorporated with it, constituting
about half the ultimate strength. The plan of
organisation is that decided on by Capt. Shaw, who
has been appointed chief superintendent. Besides
chiefs, the force will consist of 350 officers and men.
There will be four steam floating engines ; the same
number of large land steamers ; and 37 large hand-
wrought engines. The distribution of these is to be
amongst 89 stations, the whole protecting an area
of 117 square miles. In respect to funds, the ob-
jectionable system hitherto adopted will be aban-
doned. The entire cost of the Metropolitan Fire
Brigade is calculated not to exceed £50,000 per
annum. Of this, the various insurance companies
supply £lO,OOO, and the Government another
£lO,OOO ; the deficit being made up from the pro-
ceeds of a rate of a halfpenny in the pound. The act
for establishing the Metropolitan Fire Brigade does
away with rewards hitherto given to firemen and
others for the extinction of chimneys on fire. The
total proceeds from this source during the year 1864
amounted to more than £3,000. That year,
however, seems to have been of exceptional
character in respect to the amount of these
rewards. The grounds upon which this altera-
tion was based do not seem obvious. The
system of rewards would seem calculated to
bring emulation to bear, under circumstances of
difficulty and danger, when that quality would be
desirable. A very important provision in respect to
the Metropolitan Fire Brigade is that which relates
to the conditions of its employment beyond the me-
tropolitan limits. Hitherto, when need has occurred
for the services of metropolitan engines, difficulties
have sometimes arisen in the matter of payment.
The occasion is one when action must necessarily
take effect without preliminary conditions • hence,
on the day of settlement, troubles incidental to this
state of things have usually sprung up. All future
trouble on this score is obviated by special provi-
sions. By the 30th section of the act it is decreed
that wheh the new Fire Brigade is employed beyond
bounds, the owners of the property jeopardised are
liable for all expenses, to be recovered, in case of
refusal, by the summary adjudication of two jus-
tices. In yet other particulars the act confers addi-
tional powers on the Metropolitan Fire Brigade.
Thus, firemen are now invested with discretionary
power to break into, and take possession of, any
premises they may deem needful to the general con-
summation. Should the occasion seem to demand,
the occupied premises may be pulled down so as to
narrow the spread of the conflagration. Altogether
the new fire regime is one that commends itself fav-
ourably to those most interested. Public and pri-
vate ends are made co. ordinate. Henceforth Lon-
don may be said to possess a fire establishment
commensurate with its immense area and enormous
wealth.