Responsibility Taken Over by New Body Having finished the requisite period training, the Harbour "Fire Brigade, under the command of Mr. W.'J. German, chief fire officer, on Tuesday took over all duties in son nection with fires on the Whangpoo River and riparian properties that are within "Shanghai Harbour limits. The Brigade is under the administration of the Chinese Maritime Customs, and equipment includes Me W. 3. Onrman, siter se ater ste Rebewe Tie Brigade, which. took over. oMetally, dutiag on the iver on Tuesday. two fire floats, the Poo Chi, which is the larger, and the Hu Ning.
Heretofore, when there was a fire on the river, the floats were manned by men from the Shanghai Fire Brigade, who were called from their stations' when necessary, But. since the arrival of Mr. German, who was formerly connected with the River Fire Brigade in London and with the Corporation of Rangoon, a crew to man both of the floats and to take care of all fires, has been organized.
The organization of the personnel of the floats has been extensive and thorough. The firemen are now a highly trained and eM™icient body of men, and ore well versed in the technicalities of fire-fighting. All have qualified in the use of the Tatest self breathing apparatus which will be used by the Brigade, Trained in First Aid The firemen also possess a knowledge of frst aid work, and are able not only to administer help to others, bhut should they themselves suiter from an accident while fighting fire, are able to take care of themselves until aid can come to them.
Constant drill is the order of the day for the Brigade, and they also. must attend lectures "designed to instruct hem in all methods of fre-Aghting A great deal of the work of training has been done by the Shanghai Fire Brigade, which has whole-heartedly given much of its time to developing Its sister organization, Fires that occur on water are of a serious nature, and are often harder to combat than fires on land, because there are so'many obstacles'to overcome before the fire-fighters can gel to the seat of the fire. Also, there is not so much opportunity of placing the fre extinguishing apparatus in 2 number of advantageous places on land. The Harbour Brigade mus fight a tre from the. best potable In the opinion of firemen, the mos dangerous fires at sea are bunker fires, There is poisonous gas and the danger of explosions,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.