WIDESPREAD DISASTER

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 156, 21 March 1918, Page 6

WIDESPREAD DISASTER

TERRIBLE EXPERIENCES AT METIHI : :

STORIES OF SETTLERS' HEROIC EFFORTS ,

TORRENTIAL RAIN SAVES OHAKUNE

.■ (From Our Special Reporter.) OUakuno, March 20. Spreading destruction on all sides and leaving enormous destruction in its wake, a great fire has . the heart of the great timber belt of the King Country in its relentless,grip. Details of the fire ate etill meagre, but sufficient is known at Ohakune—a veritable storm centre —to establish beyond doubt that a huge loss lisa been sustained by e.iwmillers and settlers alike, and the districts of Ohakuno, Raetihi, Rangataua, Ksrewaroiv.a, Upper Kawhatau, and Utiku are still ablaze. .From information available it appears that shortly nfter midnight on Monday a tremendous gale of cyclonic force sprung up and fanned various small outbreaks of iire, until the whole countryside was converted into a veritable inferno. The greater part of the promising young township of Raetihi has been laid in ashes, and tho same is. on all sides reported of Horopito. Rangataua is also badly hit, and at ono time it looked as. if nothing short of a miracle •would save_ tho town of Ohakune. At 10 o'clock in the morning on Tuesday, however, the wind suddenly lifted and gave place to a heavy downpour of rain, which continued intermittently throughout the. day.. Late on Tuesday night the wind again increased to a gale. Ohakune is full of homeless refugees from Raetihi and outskirts, who report no fatalities among their mrmter. Absolutely nothing is known, however, of the fate of the backblucks settlers. The country is all fire and Binoke, and tho roads to Ohakune are impassable. It will be some days before' the fate of the out-back settlers ran be communicated to the outside world. .'

The Prime Minister, the Right Hon. AY. F. Massey, passed through Ohakune on the Wellington express on Tuesday night, en route for Auckland, and at once sized up thp seriousness of the situation. To the Under-Secretary Land 3 .Department he dispatched an urgent message instructing him to send a Crown lands ranger to Ohakune to report on the extent of the damage and to lend all possible assistance.

Main Trunk Disorganised. First intimation of tho alarming nature of the conflagration was communicated @hen it became known that the Main Trunk express from Auckland was held up on the north side of Horopito, through the partial destruction of the Taonui viaduct, and that at one time the train itself was actually on fire. This was extinguished before inueh_ material damage was done, but the viaduct remained impassable. Passengers and mails had to bo transferred to a relief train on the south side of the viaduct. Late on Tuesday night temporary repairs were effected to the viaduct, enabling the Main Trunk express to traverse its length en route for Auckland.

■ Raetihi's Terrifying Experience. Startling was the experience of the inhabitants of Raetihi. About midnight they were awakened by a veritable cyclone of wind and flames, which, without warning 1 , swept from tho bush through one end of tho town. Thence it crossed to the bush on the opposite side, and returning with i renewed vigour cleaved another destructive passage through the stricken township. The people rushed pell-mell into the streots, many of them in their nightclothes, only to barely escape with their lives. Some one hundred houses and chops quickly went up in smoke, together with the Waimarino Butter Factory, the Sash and Door Company's •Works, the Council Chambers, and police station. The heat was intense, and smoke insufferable. Two motorcars crowded with fugitives made a dash for Ohakuue, but it is reported that the cars '.were quickly consumed in the general conflagration, and the occupants had to return to ■what seemed a doomed township. Luckily at a critical moment the wind changed momentarily, and a portion of the township was preserved from destruction. Into this the; homeless villagers crowded, and all through the long night, with fire raging on all sides, they remained till about seven o'clock in the morning. At this juncture a relief train from Oliakune, rushed in on the scene. Quickly it was filled with ithe terror-stricken inhabitants, and the return journey to Ohakune was accomplished with all possible speed. In the dense, unnatural, inky blackness which prevailed till late in the forenoon the Tefugees poured out of the train on to the streets of Ohakuno. Lightly clad, and with ruin staring many of them in the face, *heir condition was pitiable. Many patheti* incidents are related. One man wept like a child on the platform. In the general hurry and scurry in the burning township he missed his wife, whom he now thought had been burnt to death. His weeping changed to tears of joy when a second relief train arrived and out from it came his •wife. All doors in Ohakune were thrown open to the refugees, whose temporary wants were quickly supplied.

HcropiJo Laiti in Aches, •Meanwhile nothing had been hoard of Boropito,' which, unlike Haetihi, was on the main line and therefore completely cut off from all communication. The worst fears were entertained for the safety of its inhabitants. Later in the day, however, meagre news filtered through to.the effect that the people were saved, but the whole town destroyed. All rejwrts agree that. Horopito'lias been wiped ofE the map, along with most of the timber mills in the district, hut a comprehensivo account will not be available until the unfortunate residents are able to reach Oliakunc. All sorts of wild rumours were afloat concerning the fate of the township of Rangataua, but it is now definitely established that the town itself is saved, but that tho Powell Process Co.'s works have been completely destroyed. Built , at a cost of fifty thousand pounds, these works were tho only one of their liind in New Zealand. The Hangatniia's Company's mill at Ramintnua- escaped the flames, nut some other mills in the district were destroyed, including the Itaiifiatanii Company's mill on the Valley ftoad. Tliis property is a total loss, fcldiidinc the mill cottages and a valuifble stock of timber.

Numerous Mills Destroyed. With reports from outeido districts

yet to be received, the. following mills are to date reliably reported as lost: — Eaetihi, Paraeroa Sawmill Company's mill, Merson's, Peterson's, and Symen's mills, itangataua, Powell Process Company's works (not the sawmill), and Collier's , mill, Horopito, Orata Sawmill Company's mill, and the Rangataua Company's Valley Eoad mill. Carter's mill at Horopito is from all accounts saved. Tho Egmont Box Company's works at Oliutu was first reported ae destroyed. Latest reports, however, leave no doubt but that it escaped destruction. Without taking tho largo stocks of timber and employees' cottages into account, a prominent sawmiller estimates that the valuo of mills alone so far known as destroyed readies £50,000. .Roughly speaking, their capacity was 50,000 feet per day. Speaking to a Dominion representative, a group of mill-owners stated that the loss of the mills and fixtures was likely to be greatly outweighed by tho huge • destruction of millable bush, which it is feared has been brought about. It would bo days, possibly weeks, before an accurate) estimate could bo made of the extent of their loss in this connection. In any case many millers will Bo hard hit, as most of the mills were uninsured. "AVe have," remarked ono miller, "very grave doubts whether it is worth putting up our mills again, but we cannot tell until- we hayo bopn over the ground*-' lam afraid that millions of feet of white pine have been lost, not to speak of rimu and matai."

The Area of Destruction. Ohakuno is the centre of the sawniilling losses, for north of Horopito it is reported that there'are only a few log fires, and the country is in no great danger. As regards the fires reported in t : ho Taiharje; TJtiku, and adjacent districts the loss of milling timber cannot be great;-as-these districts have been cut out. The Egmont Box Company, however, have a valuable, milling area, and its fate is a matter of speculation. It is practically all dead bush on the west side of the line from 'Ohakune to Taihape',' and through this the fire raged, until -within a comparatively short 'distance of the Huntcrville district, where it died to the tune of grass and log fires. South of this, again, no destruction is reported. There is a big stretch of country between the Ohakune and Te Rurti districts, which is not hushed, and in the absence of any news (all tomnranication with there is cut off) ,it is pointed out that the latter district may have escaped lightly. .

Settlers Heavy Losers. By far the most pathetic side of the whole disaster is the huge losses which must have been sustained by settlers in all the districts affected. Scores of them have already been reported as liaving lost heavily, and when the details .commence to filter in through tho. the present impassable channels, it is feared that the number will run well into throe figures. On the valley road, for instance, in the Ohakune. district, a number of settlers have had' their houses arid buildings swept awav by iire, and in addition lost most of their stock-. De3d stock is lying "in all directions, and many are the farms that must have been reduced to blackened waste. From Taihape. for instance, comes tho report that the Ross homestead, woolshed, and buildings have been lost, together with much of thp stock, and that F. Bradley lost his shod.-, aild some of his. stock. As regards the great bulk of the settlers, however, nothing will be known nntil communication:; are restored. The Telegraph Deonrtment had sanTs biif.v all day Tuesday, but so extensive was the damage that even to-'lay Ohnkune and the ar"a visited bv/fh" fire is erst off from tho outside Tv>rld. Taihaiw is the nearest telegraphic point to Wellington. ' Those few settlers who have reached town uiwiinnuplv aarce tkit foni-;rW-able relir-f will require to be distributed anions; farmers if the district worst affpcted is to 1<" rpteiintl by its present holders. In pnrtjcnlqr it is expected that the settlcrr "-'ll 1." , , cryin? out for immense quantities of grass seed. ' ■ At a l?te hour to-dnv the fate of tlm greater nart. if tbf hack country is slill a ;nntler of conjecture, nnd notliino; in the ,<oiniv> nf-." comprehensive or ("lirmW" list, of losses has come, to hand at Ohr.kune.