A cycle of fires has set in. Within ten days,
the Alhambra has been burnt down, a great fire has occurred in Dublin, the residents in one wing of Hampton Court Palace have been burnt out ; a very serious fire has broken out in Wood Street, City, destroying, it is believed, property worth two millions sterling ; and the business section of Kingston, Jamaica, has been gritted, the loss being estimated at three millions. Allowance being made for the early exaggerations, prompted by the desire not to understate claims, Englishmen have lost irrecoverably at least five millions, or, say, an Income-tax for the year of three- pence in the pound. There is no evidence of incendiarism, though it is reported from Kingston ; but the Insurance Offices may be trusted to institute special inquiries. They distribute the loss, and seem as yet almost unaffected. Can anybody tell us positively whether, on the occurrence of a great fire, the average of small fires sensibly diminishes P That would explain much of the calm of the Offices, and is quite possible without any novel explanation, every groat fire tripling, for a certain period, the care taken in smaller establish- ments. The watchfulness, usually only nominal, suddenly becomes real.
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