102 Mr Fairbairn on Fireproof Warehouses. 
gress, and to adopt measures for the better security of pro- 
perty, and the prevention of a calamity so injurious to the 
public as well as individual interests. In no other descrip- 
tion of building have the effects of fire been so severely felt, 
nor have the provisions necessary for its suppression been 
so disregarded, as in warehouses used for the stowage of 
commercial produce in maritime towns. 
In the manufacturing districts the same apathy has not 
prevailed ; for, in most places, fireproof buildings have been 
introduced, and, notwithstanding their complete success, it 
is surprising that the same system has not been adopted in 
the construction of warehouses and other buildings appro- 
priated to the reception of merchandise. When we consider 
the extent and immense value of property contained in these 
edifices, it can scarcely be conceived that such a state of 
things should exist ; and, more particularly, amongst a body 
of men the most active and intelligent in Europe. Such, 
however, is the case ; and we have only to enumerate a few 
examples to shew, that a disregard of consequences, or a 
culpable ignorance of existing improvements, has pervaded 
the mercantile community for a number of years. This 
should not be, as the buildings in which the manufactures of 
cotton, flax, silk, and wool, are carried on, are, with few ex- 
ceptions, almost entirely fireproof; and upwards of thirty 
years have elapsed since iron beams, iron columns, and 
brick arches, were first introduced in the construction of 
factories, as a security against fire. These facts ought not 
to have escaped the observation of the British merchant; 
and yet, in the face of so many examples, with one single 
exception,* it is only within the last few months that a non- 
combustible material has been used in the construction of 
the immense magazines of Liverpool. In other parts of the 
empire the same laxity of application exists, but the effort 
so happily made at the port of Liverpool, will, it is hoped, 
extend itself to the metropolis and every sea-port in the 
kingdom. For these objects, and for the guidance of those 
* Messrs Jevons constructed a fireproof warehouse on the New Quay 
ten years ago. 
