Page 6 Advertisements Column 3

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1662, 31 January 1913, Page 6

The Auckland "Herald'' reports that bush fires have been very:frequent lately in the back country, of. the North»lsland. During the past .week travellers by rail have been provided; 'by tho fires, with interesting to tho ordinary landscapes. A big bush fifo near the railway line is a remarkable sight by day, and a particularly fine examplo was seen recently from the Rotqrua lino, near Matamata. The actual '•fife was hidden by the : crest of a' hill, but a huge column of smoke rose almost vertically for hundreds of feet, and catching a slight breezo spread out into a massive cloud; showing a long series of brown and grey tints, merging into pur© white. Such fires always rosult in the formation of;hugo quantities of wator-vapour, which' in 'favourable circumstances formsi.cumullls clouds' of a grandeur of an approaching .thunderstorm. By!night, such o' firo is even more magnificent, the whole ©loud of 6moke and steam being reddened, by tho glare of tho firo itself. The residents of Rotorua witnessed a doublo conflagration on Sunday night. All the evening a bush fire several miles away illuminated a large area of smoke-laden sky; and shortly after dark a largo house, high up on the lakeside, a few miles from the town,-caught fire, and was completely dcstroyed,'iriaking a magnificent display,. ■ • : During engine-room trials on board tho new battleship Jean. Bart," it was,, discovered that some of "the low-pressure pipes had been perforated in thrco places with .as iwl, Tho damage is insignificant,