six o'clock in the afternoon
Had other constituencies as sternly declined to fritter away their voting strength upon side issues , Lord Salisbury would now be in power with a solid majority at his back . My purpose , however , is not to talk of politics , but to give you a short description of an event which has greatly excited us , and redeemed from monotony -LRB- though at the eleventh hour -RRB- the year Eighteen ninety-two . I refer to the great fire on Freethy 's Quay , where Mr. Wm. Freethy has of late been improving his timber-store with a number of the newest mechanical inventions ; among others , with a steam engine which operates on a circular saw , and impels it to cut up oak poles -LRB- our winter fuel -RRB- with incredible rapidity . It was here that the outbreak occurred , on Christmas Eve -- of all days in the year -- between five and six o'clock in the afternoon . But I should first tell you that our town has enjoyed a long immunity from fires ; and although we possess a Volunteer Fire Brigade , at once efficient and obliging , and commanded by Mr. Patrick Sullivan -LRB- an Irishman -RRB- , the men have had little or no opportunity of combating their sworn foe . The Brigade was founded in the early autumn of 1873 , and presented by public subscription with a handsome manual engine and a wooden house to contain it . This house , painted a bright vermilion , is a conspicuous object at the top of the hill above the town , as you turn off towards the Rope-walk .