In the expenses of the repair shop, interest on the value of the land and building and on the cost of equipment is not included. A fair estimate for this would, in the opinion of the Board, be $2,000.

The equipment of the shop has cost, up to the present $8,945 11

time

Of this amount $1,703.66 have been expended during the past year in the purchase of two blacksmiths' forges, one tire-bending machine, a circular saw and saw-bench, the heating arrangements of the building, and a variety of smaller tools, patterns, etc.

HOSE AND HARNESS REPAIR SHOP.

The hose and harness repair shop has also answered well the purpose for which it was established. All the repairs of hose and harness have been made there, as well as such new harness work as has been required. The expenditures on account of material and labor for the past year have been, hose, $1,356.45; harness $1,486.25.

The following new harnesses and parts of harnesses have been made in the hose and harness repair shop, during the year ending April 30, 1876:

619 lengths of hose have been repaired, as follows: Leather, 150; cotton, 96; rubber, 267; chemical, 61; hand, 29; suction, 16.

Couplings have been attached to 2,200 feet of new hose.

FIRE-ALARM TELEGRAPH.

The Fire-Alarm Telegraph is in a satisfactory condition. During the past year five circuits were re-run, and all the others were more or less repaired. Forty-one and onequarter miles of new wire were put up. All the lines have stood well the storms of the past winter. The East Boston cable was found to be in an unreliable condition. Two of the six wires had already become useless, and there was reason to think that the remaining wires might at any time fail, and communication with East Boston be suddenly cut off. Two courses were open either to buy and lay a new cable or run a land-line through Charlestown and Chelsea. The cost of a cable, the great liability to injury, and the impossibility of repairing it when injured, were sufficient reasons for not putting down another cable, while the economy and certainty of the land-line were advantages so decided as to overcome the objection to passing through territory not part of the city. Accordingly consent was obtained from Chelsea to run wires through that city. At the suggestion of the authorities of Chelsea, advantage was taken of this fact to establish a telegraphic connection between the Fire Department head-quarters of this city and those of Chelsea, so that the need for assistance can now be made known at once, in case of a serious fire in either city. The advantages are mutual. Boston secures an efficient ally, if a fire should break out in Charlestown or East Boston, at a time when a large fire in the southern part of the city is calling for the main part of the city department; and Chelsea gains the certainty of prompt aid from the larger department of this city. Under an arrangement made with the holders of the Fire-Alarm Patents, the Fire-Alarm Telegraph of Charlestown has been changed, and is now become part of the general system of the city. The change is in every way an advantageous one. The force of the "repairers" has been reduced by the resignation of two members. Instead of filling these vacancies two of the repairers have each been furnished with a horse and light wagon. The extent of territory covered by the Fire-Alarm Telegraph, and the constant supervision necessary to keep it in perfect order, made such an arrangement expedient.

If additional force is needed for Fire-Alarm Telegraph work, men are temporarily detailed from the permanent force of the Fire Department.

FIRES.

The record of the year, in the number of fires and the amount of loss by fire, compares very favorably with that of former years.

The following summary shows rather more clearly than the detailed statement (Appendix A, page 22) the proper points for comparison. So favorable a record cannot be counted on as a rule until our buildings, whether warehouses or dwellings, have more of the fire-proof qualities common to buildings of most European cities. With every precaution and the greatest skill and watchfulness on the part of the firemen, destructive fires are always possible under a combination of adverse conditions, and it must be borne in mind that few people outside of the department ever know how narrowly the small fire escaped being a conflagration. The loss of a very few minutes, indecision, or lack of courage and endurance, would over and over again have shown the difference.

The more efficient is the department the less conspicuous it is, and the less the public hears and knows of individual skill and personal pluck and endurance. The best machinery moves with the least noise.

Among the numerous inferences which may be made from the foregoing figures, and from the fuller tables in the Appendix, the following may claim your attention.

1st. That the buildings totally destroyed were all of them buildings of small value, and were also, from their location, construction, or contents, such that, if a fire were once well started, the building would be entirely consumed, whatever might be done to save it.

2d. That of the buildings considerably damaged about one-half were damaged less than $500 each, one quarter $1,000, or less each, while only four suffered damage exceeding $5,000 each. This does not include the damage to the contents, but with a few insignificant exceptions the loss both on buildings and contents was more than covered by the insurance in each case; while in the more important cases the damage to the building was very small as compared with its value. The injury to the contents of the building was in the aggregate about three times that to the buildings themselves, but the insurance on the contents was about four times the loss on the same.

In most instances the loss on contents represents rather the property injured in consequence of the fire than that actually burned up or destroyed. There seems often a great disproportion between the loss on the building and the loss on the contents. A few hundred dollars on the building is associated with many thousands on the contents. This is the effect of water and smoke, and quite as often of the latter as of the former, for every effort is made to prevent the