ABSTRACT
Defence against fire is one of the most elementary forms of protection with which a great city may be expected to equip itself. This applies with special force to London, in whose long history the Great Fire of 1666 still stands out as a major event. Yet the fire-fighting organisation of the metropolis is hampered, like practically all the other services, by the obsolete ideas which hang like millstones round the neck of the capital, and the persistent refusal of the governmental authorities to recognise the obvious facts of life and growth.
