588 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION J. 



dooi's. This is one thing ; another is the adoption of fire-resisting or fire- 

 proof floors and supports. If these two conditions were observed there can 

 be no doubt that the danger from fire would be greatly reduced. Lifts and 

 staircases constructed in the oi'dinary way conduct the flames from place to 

 place, and do much to hasten the destruction of a building. Inflammable 

 flooi-s and a roof easily burnt are also dangerous features. Under these 

 conditions a building in which a fire gets a good start has little chance of 

 being saved. The flames spread quickly from floor to floor, and the whole 

 structure is speedily involved. But a building having well-protected lifts 

 and staircases, and fireproof floors and roofs, would burn slowly, and the 

 lire brigades would be at work before things had gone too far. One would 

 think that people who erect buildings would have regard to these things, 

 but the rule seems to be the other way. The " matchbox " style is 

 preferred because it is cheap and convenient ; danger from fire is not 

 thought of at all, or is made a secondary consideration. 



The question is one which the City Council should deal with at the 

 earliest possible opportunity. The Superintendent urges that the building 

 laws should be " revised and enforced." We infer from these words that 

 the building laws do not go far enough, and that, such as they are they are 

 not carried out. There are, therefore, two directions in which amendment 

 should be made. The Council should see that the building regulations 

 that have been fi'amed are enforced, and it should at once set about 

 strengthening them. The conditions of to-day are very different to those 

 of a few years ago. As land in the city becomes scarcer and dearer, so 

 does the height of the buildings increase. It is obvious that if buildings of 

 many stoi-eys are constructed on the " matchbox " plan, they are not only 

 unsafe themselves, but are a danger to the edifices on either side. It is a 

 good thing, no doubt, to insist that the walls should be of a given thickness, 

 but this is not everything Our correspondents point to certain precautions 

 without which no large building can be regarded as reasonably safe, and it 

 is a question for the Council to consider whether these precautions should 

 not be insisted upon. If it is necessary for the safety of the city that lifts 

 and staircases should be guarded, or that floors and roofs should be fire- 

 proof, the observance of these rules should be made compulsory. Human 

 nature is human nature ; and if people are left to their own devices, we 

 may be sure that insecure and dangerous buildings will multiply, with 

 the result probably that the city will be involved some day in a great 

 disaster." 



Appendix D. 



(From the Transactions of the R.I.B.A., 1S75-6.) 



" Two experiments were made, the first being to test the effectiveness of 

 the construction, when the action of flame during a fire, would be continuous 

 for two hours and a half. A furnace was built, 4 feet wide, and 14 feet 9 

 inches long internally, the top of which was made to resemble the brick 

 arched floor of a building. The two segmental arches were 9 inclies thick, 

 and had a bearing throughout the length of the furnace upon a rolled iron 

 joist 10 inches deep and 6 inches wide with a span of 14 feet 9 inches. 

 This girder was protected by fire clay lining, so that no part of the metal 

 could be attacked by the flames. Fire bricks were used for the arches so 

 as the better to test the efficiency of the fire-clay linings, but ordniary 

 stock bricks were to be en.ployed in the actual building. Plastering was 

 but on the underside of the lining, as in the case of a ceiling, and the 

 spandrils and crown of the arches were filled in with concrete, having a 

 finished surface of portland cement on the top equivalent to the flooring. 



