a proper regard for comfort and economy demands that the basement shall be remodelled, or a different heating apparatus provided. Owing to the rapid increase of population and business in District No 5, that house will soon be too small to accommodate the men necessary to do the work required, and the location is far from the centre of the district. The formation of a new district from the western portion of District No. 5, with a portion of No. 10, may be expedient at no remote day.

House No. 7 was originally built on marshy ground, and the basement floor is too low to admit of proper drainage; this might be remedied at small expense by filling in and raising the floor. With the increase of business and population it will soon be necessary to enlarge the house or divide the district. The accommodations at House No. 14 (Brighton) have been enlarged during the past season and with the improvements now in progress will afford ample and convenient quarters for several years to come. House No. 15 (Charlestown) has undergone some repairs and improvements during the year, but the business of this district will soon require either a new house nearer the centre of the territory, or a division of the district.

CENTRAL OFFICE.

The Central Office at City Hall consists of the Chief's private office, and one business room about twenty-six feet square ; this latter room is occupied by the Deputy-Chief and Assistant Deputy, clerks, messenger, the superintendent of building permits, and the officers detailed for special service, fourteen men in all; it is also the business headquarters of the whole department, comprising fifteen stations and seven hundred men, and is visited by citizens and strangers of every class, averaging more than two hundred and fifty persons daily, many of whom desire to transact their business as privately as possible. Under these circumstances some additional office-room would add greatly to the facilities of doing business, and the convenience of the public.