The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF

TIMES.—Of all the anomalies in the anomalous
organisation of this most heterogeneous and ill di-
gested metropolis the London Fire Brigade is not the
least. It is natural to suppose when we see a fire-
engine dashing at full speed, with its complement of
firemen, to the scene of a fire that it is being em-
ployed in some public service. The uniform of the
men, the sort of general air of authority they assume,
the instinctive habit of making way for them, and
our natural anticipations of the necessities of the
case, all combine to create the impression that the
Fire Brigade is the agent of some public authority,
acting for the public benefit. As if to confirm this
idea, they are always ready to attend a fire any-
where, however slight, and, indeed, are so ready
with their services on the slightest alarm that
people who have ever had any experience of their ope-
rations rather dread their interference than fear their
neglect. At all events, if the Fire Brigade is not a
Government or a public institution, one would sup-
pose it to be the creation of somebenevolent society,
like the Royal Humane Society or the Royal Society
for the Preservation of Life from Fire. The plain
fact, however, is that it is simply a private institu-
tion, having no other object whatever but to protect
the interest of the shareholders of the several in-
surance companies. Its officers and men are, as
was shown in the case of the well-known Mr.
Braidwood, men of undaunted courage, humanity,
and even enthusiasm ; but all these qualities are
called out, not in the first instance to save the pro-
perty 'or lives of the public,' but to diminish the
amount of loss which in case of any fire might fall
on the companies. The admirable officer we have
referred to, being asked by a committee of the
House of Commons what he would do if, having
been summoned to a fire in the British Museum,
which is uninsured, a fire were meanwhile to break
out in a block of insured houses adjacent, replied
that "of course " he should knock off from the
Museum." When a fire breaks out it is true the
Fire Brigade do not wait to inquire whether the
property is insured or not before going to it, but
they do so only because the adjacent property may
be insured. All their energy, in short, is set in
motion by the most ordinary of all considerations—
the desire of persons whose money is in danger to
save as much of it as they can. There is nothing
public, or humane, or disinterested about it, except
the generous feelings which long habit raises in the
minds of the officers and men of the Brigade them-
selves. For the rest, all is pure business, and no
more. The report of the London Fire Brigade for
1864, which we analysed yesterday, opportunely
reminds us, while the recent Edinburgh disaster
is yet in our memories, of the existence of this
singular anomaly, and of the public interests en-
dangered by it. When we read that the fre-
quency of fires continues to increase in a far
larger ratio than either the population or the
number of houses, it cannot but be increasingly
unsatisfactory that duties of such vast importance
to the whole metropolis should be left in private or
unauthoritative hands. The evil might not be
serious if we could be sure of the companies find-
ing it t 6 their interest to maintain an establish-
ment sufficiently large to answer all the public
requirements. That such, however, is not the
case was admitted by the managers of the Brigade
before a Select Committee of the House of Com-
mons, where they openly stated that " as they con-
sider their staff sufficient for the protection of that
part of London where the largest amount of insured
property is located, they have no desire or intention
to add to their expense by placing additional sta-
tions in situations where if a fire occurs it is not
likely to cause such comparative injury to the offices
as if it occurred in the great city warehouses." A.
great part of the metropolitan district must there-
fore, so far as the Fire Brigade goes, be necessarily
unprotected. The efficiency and character of the
Brigade which exists leave, indeed, nothing to be
desired. The only fault is that it is not large
enough. The present Report contains almost direct
admissions that its services are overtasked. There
is an increase on the sick list, for example, of more
than 50 per cent. as compared with the preceding
year ; and the only way in which the surgeon can
account for the additional sickness " is the increase
of fires, in consequence of which the men have been
called upon to perform a greater amount of duty."
There is at the same time very little evidence in the
Report that the establishment is being propor-
tionately enlarged. Its expenditure of labour and
time is, indeed, being economized by the introduc-
tion of steam-engines and the employment of tele-
graphs ; but these improvements cannot be sufficient
to keep pace with the growing demands of such a
vast metropolis as London. It is no wonder, there-
fore, if Captain Shaw speaks of the last year as
having been " a period of unprecedently severe and
trying labour." But increasing labour to the
Brigade means increasingly less protection to the
public. This, however, is far from being the only
evil which results from the unofficial character of the
Fire Brigade. Its inadequacy to fulfil the severe
labours imposed on it leaves a great opening for pri-
vate exertions. In point of fact, various volunteer
and private fire-engine establishments have been
started, and have been supported by private in-
dividuals or firms, and in one or two instances by
public bodies within the metropolis. It might be
thought at first sight that those volunteer addi-
tions to the regular service would be nothing but
an advantage, but as matters . now stand
they are not without a considerable draw-
back. The Fire Brigade being a merely private
establishment, has no authority over them whatever,
and when the two work together at a fire there is
always danger of rivalry and confusion. In any
scene of confusion like a fire it is everything to have
one management, and two or three Volunteer Bri-
gades all working at the same time in different direc-
tions and in mutual rivalry might do as much harm
as good. Of course, a Volunteer Brigade ought
always to make a point of placing itself strictly un-
der the orders of some recognised officer at every
fire. At all events, it ought to be perfectly willing
to do so. But why should there be any occasion
left for this conflict of authorities in a case where
everything depends upon complete unanimity ? To
put out a fire effectively requires as much organisa-
tion and skill as to manage a battery, and the work
ought to be in the hands of a regularly organised
and authoritative force. A Fire Brigade is as neces-
sary to the safety of a city as a force of police, and
it ought to be publicly maintained and invested
with public authority. As we noticed yesterday, the
Brigade is now dependent, in so important a matter
as obtaining a sufficient supply of water, upon such
lethargic, functionaries as turncocks and church-
wardens. We hope it will not be long before some
steps are taken to remedy so serious an omission in
our metropolitan organisation. We have no fault
to find with the way in which the existing Brigade
discharge their perilous duties. They are admirably
commanded, and have repeatedly displayed tb
highest qualities of courage, discipline, and eel
sacrifice ; but that is no reason why, the publ,
should trust the protection of their lives and pro.
perty from so terrible an enemy as fire to the partial
mercies of insurance companies.
HERALD.—Skating is, no doubt, an elegant
amusement, and delightful to all except nervous and
unsteady persons, who associate with it only ideas
of being stunned, fractured, submerged, and
brought back into a shivering condition of life by
the shampooings of a hospital nurse. We have
Imperial authority for the fact of its being respect-
able, and national testimony to the fact that it is
popular. But it becomes a question, whether in
great towns, which are supposed as amply guarded
by police, some regulations are not necessary in
order to prevent so fearful an excitement as that
witnessed in the parks on Monday, and the con-
stant peril of thousands who would persist in ven-
turing upon the unstable ice. The parks were
thronged ; the ornamental waters, imperfectly frozen
over, were loaded with the weight of an extraordi-
nary multitude. In one place 50 individuals fell
through the thin crust of congelation, and these
were for the most part boys. Several of the cases
are reported as dangerous. In St. James's Park cer-
tain persons, whose conduct we have no hesitation
in describing as brutal and atrocious, threw oranges
and halfpence upon the ice, which induced a bevy
of children to rush and scramble, with imminent
danger to themselves, and which was an act not less
morally criminal than as though the fruit and money
had been flung upon a railway in front of an express
train approaching at full speed, to tempt a thought-
less youngster to his death. The law provides no
safeguards for these silly urchins ; for were it not
for that noble institution the Royal Humane So-
ciety, there would be a Morgue,. or dead-house, in
every park ; and the parks, by the way, are governed
upon a singular principle. You may be drowned
within their pleasant circuits without let or hin-
drance, unless on the part of a private association,
while you may not sleep upon their sward by night.
Here were little ones struggling, ten at a time, in
water at zero; two or time were battling for assist-
ance beneath the ice ; for half an hour some were
thus miserably soaked, their lives were imperilled,
and—in the name of all that is manly, we say, it
was a villanous outrage—the act of miscreants and
cowards, after an elaborate warning from the police,
to throw oranges and halfpence on the breaking ice,
as though these poor creatures were rats in a pit, to
be brought into peril of their lives for the sake of a
stupid and ferocious joke. Every man who takes a
part in these malign jests should be scouted by his
friends. No act of Parliament can reach him ; but
the parks, which are the property of the Crown,
might be placed under better supervision. The
police, under authority from the ranger, may
keep you off the grass. Why may they not
keep you off the ice ? Would it not be pos-
sible to prohibit skating until some one compe-