The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-09-09
FIRE CHIEF WANTS
 25 RESERvISTS
PIatt Succeeds Barnes As Su- perintendent of Fire
 Alarm System.
Move to Transfer Funds From One Department to Another To Be Decided By City At tOrney.

1 Several reforms are to result in the
 fire department, from the Tait Mill
 fire last Saturday night, if they can 1 be brought about by the fire com
 nissioners When the board met last night, Chief Mooney asked for 25 new
 men to be placed upon the reserve 1 list. and be called when needed, de- teers in order to fight the fire success fully The boar1 entered a. protest against the board of apportionment | restricting the amount to be used f01 new men, and after telling the chief that they did not believe that they could grant his request, decided to con- suit the city attorney in the matter. Assistant Chief Daniel Johnson ask ed for 800 feet of chemical hose, de- clariug at the Tait mill fire, hremen worked under a handicap because of the limited amount of hose. Commts- sioner CanAeId was instructed to in vestigate. The next matter to come to the attention of the board because of the fire was that sixteen factories in the city were equipped with old hand wound boxes instead of automat- ic boxes. Captain Beardsley reported that when he attempted to turn in a second alarm at the Tait mill, the box was run down, and considerable time was lost. The board took under ad- visement the matter of equipping these factories with automatic signal boxes.
 Arthur E. PIatt, assistant sdperin- tendent of the fire alarm system was promoted to the position of superin- tendent, made vacant by the retire ment of William A. Barnes. The appointment was unanimous. When MT. Barnes was given leave of ab- sence some months ago, with retire ment to become effective on Sept. 1, the board gave him trial as superin- tendent, with the understanding that he would be appointed to the position if his work was satisfactory. Edward B. Mahoney was. appointed to succeed Platt as assistant at a salary of $1, 300 a year.
 John Allen Cameron of 56O East Main street, was appointed to the fire de- partmsnt. The new fire tractor re- ceived last week was accepted, sub ject to the month trial clause in the contract.
 Arthur D. Platt, superintendent of fire alarms, was granted a three days leave of absence to attend the annual convention of the Internationa Asso- ciation of Municipal Engineers to be held Sept. IS, to IS, at Atlantic City, N. J., at the city's expense.
 A hydrant broken when struck by a Sprague Ice and Coal Co., wagon, according to witnesses, came up for discussion. It was decided to investf- gate, with a view to make the com pany stand good. The company alleges that it was broken before struck by their wagon. Upon his applicati on, William I4aubscher, formerly of No. 10 company; was transferred to his old company from the fire alarm de- partment. Laubscher invented the au- tomatic rise and fall covers through which tEe men descend from the sec ond floor of the houses, and his me- chanica1 genius will be placed at work U. Densmore will take Laubscher's place, while George Meyers will sue ceed Densmore-
 With a view of transferring funds for one purpose to another, Commis- sioner John H. Tague was appointed to, confer with the city attorney. The commissioners declare that this is the only way they can make the funds last to the end of the present fiscal year. A motion to appoint a black smith for the department was left for future consideration. As C result of ain investigation of the time list of No. 2 company, it is thought that long CT meal periods will be granted.
 Three more horses are to be sold for $500. There are but 46 left out of a total of S6, which were replaced by motor driven vehicles. By" one of the oldest horses in the department was given to private party in con sideration that it is given good care during it's old age.