这里的危险威胁到这里。

这里的危险威胁到这里。

The Jacksonville Times-Union gives the following account of the recent meeting of the city council, when the fire department was up for discussion. The city is in a bad way when it has no money to pay its firemen and has 600 frame dwellings with defective flues : “ Chief Stephens, by request, reported on the condition of the fire department. He stated that it was a settled fact that the drilling of more artesian wells decrease the pressure of other wells. ' When the proper time comes.’ said he, ' I have a plan of affording complete protection for all territory south of Korsyth street, which will double the water supply now existing.' lie thought a chemical engine was a splendid appliance for an incipient fire and would be valuable in Jacksonville if the streets were well paved. He thought, too that by the addition of three steamers protection could be afforded the contiguous suburbs, which would add fifty per cent to the revenue for fire protection. He reported further that the firemen had not been pa d in November, and had only been paid in October by the borrowing of money. ‘ The want of money is the great drawback to the efficiency and morale of the department. Discipline could not be maintained when the men are unpaid—fining them for breaches of discipline only proves an aggravation. On the other hand, if they were paid, fines would have a salutary effect.’ Chief Stephens suggested that an additional fire station would he a good thing. ‘ With money the fire department can he brought up to any standard.’ The chief also informed the board that he had made a personal examination of over 600 houses and found the flues in a dangerous condition, in many instances on account of apertures in the flue and no metal between the brick and wood for protection. He argued that no manufacturing institution would come to Jacksonville with the present high rates of insurance. ‘ The sooner that this conference on fire protection arrives at a conclusion the better for us ’ ”

How TO HAVE GOOD Roads.—Those who are interested in having good roads in towns and cities, as well as in the country, will rejoice to know that the city of Kingston, N, Y., having passed a “ wide-tire ordinance,” to prevent its paved ami macadamized streets from being cut to pieces by heavily loaded wagons carrying their loads upon narrow tires, has come off victorious in a legal contest, in which the validity of the ordinance was attacked, ft is an undoubted fact that the width of the tires upon wagons can he so proportioned to the loads carried as to do no harm to roads, and in fact so that every such wagon passing over the road will improve it rather than injure it in most cases. It is to the best interests of all that such ordinances should he passed and enforced everywhere. The importance of good roads is becoming quite generally recognized, ami it is not fair that the people's money should be taken to build them, only to have them out to pieces by wagons carrying loads on such narrow tires as to make the pressure per unit of area more than any road can stand. Mechanics have long ago grappled with this problem in various ways, so far as it applies to machinery, and have found that, when a given weight is to he sustained, enough bearing surface must be provided, so that the pressure will not become too great for the material to be employed. If it is a locomotive, enough pairs of drivers are put under it to attain the desired total weight upon drivers, without exceeding the desired weight upon any single pair. Wagon makers should adopt the same plan, and if they are not willing to do this, then the law should compel them to do it.