THE BUSH FIRES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1053, 16 February 1911, Page 6

THE BUSH FIRES.

REPORTS FROM AUCKLAND DISTRICT. EAIN BADLY WANTED. • (By Tclocrapß.-Special Correspondent.) Auckland, February .15. Reports continue to reach Auckland from the north and from the south regarding the havoc played by the' bush and grass fires raging in all directions. There is not the slightest indication of | rniri, and matters are becoming really serious. Tho milk supply during the last three weeke has fallen by nearly 30 per cent., aud dairymen say that another ten , weeks of the dry weather and fires will cause a very serious shortage. The butter supply, and .export is also on the decrease.. ' . So far the timber industry has not been adversely affected. A big area has been swept:by fire in the bush. district, while grass and swamp .fires are doing their best to emulate tho timbered country in sending up smoko . and causing anxiety , and loss to the farmer. As a. matter of fact it. would seem as though the loss through' grass fires is likely to exceed the damage done by the heavier burns, the favourable growing weather of the snring followed by the summer" heat having resulted in many districts in a luxuriance of sun-driea grass that only awaited the spark imp to spread disaster. The Taihape district seems to have been one of the heaviest sufferers, a considerablo amount of damage having, been caused both to milling bush and pasture lands, one farmer having estimated his losses at about .£ISOO. \ ' Bound about Taumarunui, although fires have raged with more or less fierceness, the damage done does not appear to have been so serious, albeit a good deal of fine timber has been ruined.

In the AYaikato, apart from the swamp fires, which are likely to go on burning till the water rises from underneath the peat and drowns them, the damage has not been of any great extent, but everywhere the farmer is crying ont for rain, the diminishing milk supply causing much concern, while the turnip crops will be of little value unless rain comes along very shortly. , From all over the country comes the cry for rain, the lack of which just now is perhaps the more noticeable in view of the fact that the early pait of the season was so Rood. :. , ' :

. In the north the fires have for the most part been of a more legitimate nature, bush settlers; setting the match to their annual clearance. In some cases, however, a little damage has followed in the track of the flames, but in no instance has anything very serious been reported. *'..'... .DROUGHT IN NELSON. • . (By Telegraph—Press Association.) , .' Nelson, February 15. The long spell of'dry weather is causing some anxiety.to the city water supply. The use of the hose for gardening has been restricted to an hour daily, and there is a threat to prohibit it altogether if the drought continues. The country districts are feeling the effect of the dry spell. ■ ' ■ • . ■■ ■ : J The.city is enveloped in smoke from grass fires. . ': '■ -. The month so far has been one of considerable anxiety to flaxowners and farmers in this district, writes the Shannon correspondent of The Dominion. The country, is very dry and parched, and flax and bash fires are much in evidence. The bush behind Mr. A. Sannders's house at Moutoa caught fire on Tuesday, and a quantity of fibre in the paddocks was destroyed.