THE CITY OF MELBOURNE. 



445 



In the smaller thoroughfare, three or four hundred yards to the eastward, is the central 

 station of the Melbourne Fire Brigade, which is in telegraphic or telephonic communica- 

 tion with the watch-tower at the west end of the city, and with many important build- 

 ings in Melbourne and its suburbs. Day and night, firemen with horses, hose and reels 

 are ready at the first alarm of fire in any direction to make an immediate rush to the 

 locality indicated. There is a clatter of hoofs, a rattle of wheels, and a ringing of the 

 warning bell; and every-where the vehicles of ordinary traffic make way for the ca-.-r 

 fire-fighters who are urging their horses to the utmost speed, and are guided, like tin- 

 Israelites of old, by a cloud of smoke in the day-time, and a pillar of fire by night. 

 But no matter at what hour a serious conflagration may occur, it seems to possess a 

 strange fascination for the 

 multitude. Where they 

 spring from is a mystery. 

 They gather together so 

 suddenly that they seem to 

 have issued out of the 

 ground. A few score grow 

 into hundreds, and hun- 

 dreds swell into thousands ; 



and in the crowd that con- 

 gregates around the scene 



of the disaster, the lurid 



light of the leaping flames 



shines upon faces that are 



rarely visible at any other 



time the faces of men and 



women who hovel in back 



slums the social birds of 



prey and many of whom 



creep out from their lairs 



only at night to steal purses 



and to practice burglary or 



petty larceny. Usually a 



fire is promptly suppressed 

 drowned by the volume 



of water which can be 



poured on it from the 



THE EQUITY COURT. 



mains ; but if in a season of unusual heat the pressure happens to be weak owing to 

 an excessive demand upon the reservoirs for manufacturing, domestic and gardening pur- 

 poses ; or if it be a theatre or a kerosene store which is on fire the utmost that can 

 be done is to isolate the burning building, and so circumscribe the area of the disaster. 

 Little Collins Street West loses its name after it crosses Queen Street, and becomes 

 Chancery Lane. It is almost given up to barristers, solicitors and law stationers. There 

 are nests of chambers to the right and to the left. Before ten o'clock in the morning 



