Norwich bulletin., 1910-01-15
FIRE ALARM SYSTEM STRENGTHENED OUT
The London The Making
  Not Develop Dishonesty n emo

Chief Engineer John Stanners by ! hard and persistent work has finally
 strengthened out the entangIement of
 the wires of the fire alarm system,
 which was put out of business by the recent severe storm, and once again the system is in good working order. The chiefs published reason for not notifying the general public that the system was disabled IS a precautionary
 measure, in case of fire, was as orig 1nal as 1t was amusing, and the pres entation of a medal for excellence in judgment is due the chief who, by the way, is one of the best fire fighters in the state and fireman of long eXperi- ence.
 The chief says that if public notice were given of the disabled condition of the fire alarm system that the fire bugs might take advantage and that there might have been a reign of in- cendiary fires. He added that he had taken the precaution to notify parties in whose homes there were telephones, and which were located near the fire boxes, to, telephone fire alarms to the police station in the event of fire, and that notice would then be given by tel ephone to the several fire companies. which was not a very bad plan, were it made operative.
 It so happened that the firebugs did not get wise and there were no fires of consequence while the fire alarm sys- tenn was not working. The alleged ac- ton or the Cn1ef would give the ln- pression that there were gangs of fire bugs in New London, although there has been no trace of that species of bug since that young resident of Mon tauk avenue was permitted to leave town through the leniency of the pros ecuting officials, only to renew his work in that line in Providence, where he turned the trick seven times before being arrested. There he was for tunately adjudged insane and escaped life imprisonment the penalty for set ting fire to a dwelling house in Rhade Island
 Although the tonnage of the New London customs district is the largest in New England, outside of Boston, the salary of the collector of customs does not exist. as he is paid for his services in fees, and they do not aggregate in a year half as much as the salary paid to the janitor of the custom house build ing This is due to the fact that there are practically no arrivals of dutia ble goods, and but very little other busi- ness that brings fees to the collector. Still the holder of that honorable posi- ton is required to furnish a. big bond ties of the office. There is vast amount of business done by the GUS tom officials for which the office re- ceiVeS mo credit in reports or accounts, due to the methods of the treasury de- partment, which does not seem to take into consideration the work of the smaller custom houses so long as the general efficiency of the service is maintained.
 It would seem a matter of simple justice to the collector of customs for the port of New London that he should receive a salary in keeping with the office and it's responsibilities. Liber- ality in this respect is shown in other departments of the government. and should extend to such case as here referred to-.
 The time was when to be collector of the port meant not only honor, but large financial emolument well and collectors have been classed as among the rich when they retired from the office. This was when there were large importations from the West Indies, with the J. M. Huntington company of Norwich the chief importing firm, when it was not unusual for two or three heavily laden vessels to arrive from foreign ports with dutiable goods the vessel and cargo bringing fees to the collector of customs Then there were two private bonded warehouses in New London and one in Thames