The fire on Friday week at Her Majesty's Theatre, which
ended in its total destruction, has produced the usual crop of suggestions to prevent fires in theatres, an object, we fear, unattainable. There must be a wooden stage, built in parts and supported on movable pillars ; there must be scenes of canvas, oil, and paint ; there must be a carpenter's shop, with its litter ; and there must be any quantity of gas employed. Iron screens are but slight pre- ventives, though they may save the audience; tanks full of water are useless, for the water is always insufficient ; and pipes so placed as to pour water like engines as soon as the fire broke out, would be out of order when most wanted. The best precaution is an efficient fire patrol. Let the insurance offices concerned appoint sufficient watchers, and let every empty room be inspected every fifteen minutes, and the danger of fire will be no greater than in an ordinary ship, where everything is combustible, yet watch- fulness proves a sufficient guard.
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