tion of the spread of fires. By them no warehouse was
permitted to exceed a certain area. From the year 1842, the area has
been exchanged for a specified number of cubic feet. But since 1825, a
class of buildings has arisen of which there are now considerable
numbers in the City, called Manchester or piece goods warehouses,
which somehow have been exempted from the law restricting the extent
of warehouses, on the plea that they are _not_ warehouses, because
"bulk is broken" in them, although it is thoroughly understood that
the legislature intended by the Act to restrict the amassing such a
quantity of goods under one roof as would be dangerous to the
neighbourhood.

Manchester and piece goods warehouses have for some time past been
built in London of unlimited size, sometimes equal to twenty average
houses. This is pretty nearly the same as if that number of houses
were built without party-walls, only that it is much worse, for the
whole mass generally communicates by well holes and open staircases,
and thus takes fire with great rapidity, and, from the quantity of
fresh air within the building, the fire makes much greater progress
before it is discovered. By this means the risk of fire in the City
has been greatly increased, not only to such warehouses themselves,
but to the surrounding neighbourhood, for it is impossible to say how
far fires of such magnitude may extend their ravages under untoward
circumstances, there being at present no preventive power in London
capable of controlling them. To provide such a power would be a very
costly business.

Such buildings are also against the generally received rule, that a
man may burn himself and his own property, but he shall not unduly
risk the lives and property of his neighbours.

The new Building Act is likely to repress, to a certain extent, this
great evil, unless its meaning be subverted by some such subterfuge as
destroyed the efficiency of the last one. But what is to be done with
those which are already built? It may seem tedious to dwell so much on
this subject, but it appears to be a risk which is not generally much
thought of, though it is of the most vital importance to the safety of
London. It is very desirable that the metropolis should take warning
by the experience of Liverpool, without going through the fiery ordeal
which the latter city did.

From 1838 to 1843, 776,762_l._ were lost in Liverpool by fire, almost
entirely in the warehouse risks. Th