The Corporation of Christchurch has jurisdiction over an area of 1,249 acres. The city contains 4,754 ratable properties owned by 3,146 ratepayers, and is divided into four wards—north-east, north-west, south-east, and south-west. The town is lighted by gas, and it is well supplied with water by artesian wells, which are to be found on almost every property. A public cemetery of twenty-six acres, about three miles from the centre of the town, on Buckley's Road, is under the council's control. It was opened some years ago, when the cemeteries in Barbadoes Street, comprising the Church of England, Wesleyan, and Roman Catholic grounds, were closed. An efficient fire brigade, with two stations, one in Chester Street and the other in Lichfield Street, is maintained by the city. The municipal offices consist of a handsome two-storey red brick building, stationed on the corner of Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace. There are thirty-eight miles of formed streets within the city.