For the sake of visitors and, in fact, of everyone concerned in the Exhibition it is to be hoped that some satisfac: measures will be taken for protection against fire. Paris is very much behind the times in this "respect. fire brigade is part of the Army. Cor scripts serve their three years in the fire-brigade just as they do in a regiment' of infantry or cavalry. Part of their time is devoted to military drill. The outcome of this system is that the percentage of really efficient firemen in the brigade is very small, and that by the time a man has attained efficiency his period of service has nearly expired, so that the brigade can only claim his services for a comparatively short time. There is no mistaking the courage and devotion with which the Paris firemen do their duty, but the system is radically bad, and gives them "no chance. At the Comédie-Frengaise fire last week, the men lost a great deal of valuable time in hunting for the pipes and hydrants, the position of which seemed to be quite unknown to them. No water could be obtained from hydrant opposite the theatre, because the firemen had forgotten to open the stop-cock (fixed below the surface, to avoid the possibility of freezing). There is no knowing what progress the fire might not have made had not one of the water-company's men helped the firemen out of the hole by showing them where to look for the mains and hydrants. These facts inspired the Prefect of Police with an excellent idea. He decided to personally test the fire-extinguishing arrangements in the Exhibition. The result was very much the same as in the case of the Comédie-Frxneaise. There was plenty of fire-brigade but very little water, and the Prefect, in great wrath, expressed his intention' of luting an entirely new committee, with himself as President, to revise the whole system. For my own part, I should feel much more confidence in a dozen practical firemen than in any number of committees. If it is a fact tha the Emperor Francis Joseph has declined to send any valuable pictures to the Exhibition, one can only applaud his caution.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.