FIRE AND WATER.

FIRE AND WATER.

THE firemen who were recently dismissed from the Denver, Col., Department have brought suit against the city for working over-time. The claim is made that while they were compelled to work 21 hours a day, a State law provides that eight hours constitute a day's work. This is indeed a novel claim for a fireman to advance, in view of the generally accepted idea that a fireman is always on duty and who is only relieved from such by regular and stated leaves of absence. We do not say that there is absolutely no merit in the claim, but it is original in the fire service and the views of the court in the matter will be awaited with no little interest.

THE need of a sewerage system in Baltimore was well illustrated the other day by a complaint lodged with theHealth Commissioner. According to statements made by persons in the vicinity of Park and North avenues, it was shown that a small sewer, originally constructed to carry away the waste water from an old spring, had been tapped and used to accommodate the drainage of several rows of houses erected in the neighborhood. The accumulation of drainage caused by the recent heavy rains, has flushed this sewer several times and caused it to overflow, and the stench arising therefrom has assumed the proportions of a nuisance. The primitive modes of sewerage employed in the Monumental city, not only put its inhabitants to a great inconvenience, but actually stand in the way of the proper development of the city. 1'he simple fact is, there is no outlet for the house waste in many parts of the city. Overground drainage is insufficient to carry sway the accumulated waters, and recourse is had to such extremities as making use of a private sewer for semi-public purposes. If a sewerage system had been begun years ago, and extended as the streets of the city were opened, the difficulty which now confronts the community would have been impossible, but now we find a city of 500,000 inhabitants, so bound by its traditions as to be without a sewerage system worth the name. A few storm sewers carry off the surface drainage, but waste from dwellings is still stored in wellsand vaults dug a few feet into the surface of the back yard. This was, perhaps, necessary fifty years ago, when theeity wasstill in its youth, but it is both unnecessary and perilous to the public health when Baltimore is approaching its 1 ooth anniversary. The problem is a vast one, and is confronted with many difficulties, but Baltimore needs, and must have, a sewerage system.