STORIES OF HEROIC EFFORT

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

STORIES OF HEROIC EFFORT

SETTLERS' MAGNIFICENT COURAGE NIGHT OF PANIC AT RAETIHI ' Further details serve to emphasise tho seriousness of the losses sustained. The area affected is practically the whole of the Waimarino County, and those who know tho country aim are in a position to judge place the actual loss in round figures at £250,000— this on~ a conservative estimate. Another mill reported lost is that of the Wanganui Sash and Door Company, near Karioi. As instancing the, heavy loss in stock alone,, one settle?, Mr. Aslnnore, of Raetihi district, is reported to have lost from five to ten thousand head of fat sheep and one hundred head of fat cattle. His buildings were also destroyed.

Settlers Reported Missing. . Several persons aro reported as miss- ' ing, including F. Mitchison, a settler, and Gibson, a settler, botii of Mungataroa district. Possibly both men are sheltering somewhere, as is doubtless the case with many other settlers of whom it is at present imposlible to : get definite news. I In and around Ohakune and the I other districts mentioned in previous i dispatches the fires aro no longer aci five. At noon to-day they were rej ported to be past the Raetihi district, I and sweeping down the valleys leading into the Wangunui River. Heavy rain is falling, and unless this coascs and another gale springs up it is safe to assume iliat'tlio situation is well under control. Further advices tend to contirm the impression that no material damage has been done beyond Horopito.

As regards tho probability of the loss of milling bush, Mr. Symens, a wellknown sawmiller, said that it was a worse fire than the one which swept part of tho country ton years ago, and which went right through mucli green bush. Sawmillers compute that ;it leaet one million feet of saivu timber has been lost.

Tha Valley of Destruction. The biggest clean-up the lire made was when it rushed tornado-like down the Makutuku Valley along what is known a« the Valley Road between Iloropito and Eaetihi. Along "this small stretch of eight miles the flames licked up four sawmills and over a score of homes besides innumerable stock. "What was last week a smiling, prosperous valley, is how a smoking ruin. Late last night the whole valley presented a magnificent, but awe-inspiring, panorama. Many settlers had to fight hard for their lives, and at. noon to-day the Horopito railway station was crowded with ill-fed and ill-clad refugees. Hero and there, where a farm was surrounded by a clearing, the buildings remained intact, but in the area affected, tho rough bush farms all went up in emoke. Fifty refugees spent last night in the farmhouse on the place belonging to Mr. Morris, and theirs was an agony of dread and suspense till morning broke, by which time tho firo was miles away. The t'mely intervention of heavy rain proved their salvation. All tracks led to this haven of refuge, and they were littered witli household goods and i>ersonal effects discarded in the final dash for safety. The intense cold of the mountain-fed streams drove most of the peonle out. of. the water, to which in the first instance they had fled.

Plucky Tight with the Flamos. Four miles from Raetihi a plucky band of settlers had a harrowing experience. In the middle of the night the roots of then homes were burned almost over their heads, and ileeine piecipitately to the Makutuku Valley •schoolhonse, they crowded their women and children into this and for five hours they remained outside warding off the greedy tongues of flfimc, which continuously thrust out of the blazing forest. Three times the tiny sehoolhouse cayght on fire, and in the face of great personal riek the courageous little band succeeded in extinguishing the outbreak. All avenues of escape were shut off, and they knew that once tlio schoolhouse was burned the whole party were doomed. The fire fighters, all of whom when seen this morning were severely scorched and singed, were the schoolmaster, Mr. M'Cann, Mr. Eix, driver for the Rangataun Sawmills Company, and Mr. Curtis and his son.

A Magnificent Effort. In another part of the valley Mr. Tom Bush also had a nerve-wracking experience. When tho tire first encircled his home he picked his sick son out of bed and rushed up with him to the house or a neighbouring settler named London. Back along the blazing road with hugli burning trees crashing around him on all sides he made his way home. There he secured his wife, and again fought the trail to London's. A second time he returned to his homestead in the vain hope of saving a few' personal effects, but by this time it was in the hands of tho grim engine of destruction. The valley had now taken en the aspect of a huge blast furnace, and return by the road was impossible. Nothing daunted Mr. Bush plunged into the bush, and by making a wide detour through' the green timber he once more hovo in sight of Lundon's clearing. Here a pile of burning ruins met his gaze, and he gave up his wife and child for lost. Skilled in forest craft, ho eventually succeeded in reaching the Morris's homestead, a task in which many would have failed. There, to his joy, he found his wife and child safe.

One valley road settler lost 300 sheep and all his Horses, and the majority of the farmers will not know for several days whether their stock perished or v/hether tho terrified animals reached the groen timber, a region of safety. Naturally the loss among sheep is greater than in the ranks of cattle and hoises.

PANIC-STRICKEN RAETIHI A NIGHT OF HORROR. Indescribable scenes were witnessed in Raetihi in the early hours of Tuesday morning, amid the crash of falling timbers resembling artillery in action. An avalamhe of flame struck the town to the accompaniment of a gale of cyclonic force. Simultaneously fire broke out in soveral places. Huge trees were bodily uplifted and roofing began to fly in all directions. The startled inhabitants poured out of their dwellings, many of which were now ablaze, groping around in the intensified darkEoss. Many made for the river; others sought refuge in underground tunnels and culverts, mauy of which were full of surging himanity. Men, women, and children remained there for hours, standing in water up to their knees until daybreak, when the first relief train arrived from Ohakune. The electric light was cut off, and tho inhabitants were convinced that the whole town was doomed.

An eye-witness recounts that no fewer than fifteen women, many with babies in their arms, sheltered in a culvert fringed on both sides with burning buildings. To add to their distress, many persons were temporarily blinded by tlio dense smoke, and a distressing feature of the fire was the destruction of the nursing home, out of which some nine maternity patients had to be hurriedly transferred on mattresses and in blankets to a neighbouring paddock. l All the while raiu, smoke, ashes, and other debris came down on the unfortunate women in a merciless deluge.

Heroism of the Women. Several men who went through the coiiuagiation volunteered tho iniorination to a Uominios representative thai when it ciime to heioic courage >. ami presence or' mind the women uutdid some of their ott'n sex, and incidents were not lacking in uuulirm this. Everybody sneaks in glowing terms of the great part played in the rescue work by Dr. t'elcham, of Itactihi. He assisted numerous persons to safety at no small risk to himself, and went through .three automobiles in the effort. First one and then another ear got into difficulties and had to be abandoned by the doctor in the danger zone. Mr. Uoodyur is also narmly praised in this connection. When all else had lied the manager of the Bank of New Zealand, Mr. M'lU'iisde, stood by his company's premises with tires all;round him, and by his persistence the premises were saved. A couple of returned soldiers got , ' the manager of the Waimarino dairy factory out of his house when his escape seemed hopeless, and much other good work of a similar nature was unflinchingly performed.

Raetihi still on the Map. Although a number of business men or, townspeople have suffered severe liiiiincinl loss, Raetihi is by no means all destroyed. When this prosperous little King Country township of some six hundred souls was first cut off from all comtminiration, all sorts of wild rumours worn alloat in the outside world. Although- some one hundred places wore destroyed in and around Itiietihi, including several important business establishments, the destruction was mostly confined to the outlying residential portion. Thu town is stdl capable of carrying on business. The dairy factory was a coniplete loss, as was also the police station and the large municipal buildings and court-

house. Only a few smouldering embers aro left of the Sash and Door Factory and £3UOO worth of machinery which it housed is also a total lose. Mr. Tom i'Vigg ' s a very heavy loser. His large store, premises, and contents were reduced to ashes, as also his dwellinghouse. lie himself was also badly burned about the face. Tho lire also made short work of both the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches, while tins cyclone lilted the roof otf the Drill Hall, and also took that of the garage and sundry other places. The local butcher, G. Anderson, was cleaned out—•cattle, slaughterhouse, shop, and dwelling. The east end of tho town was worst hit. llaetilii is the terminus of a branch lino running out from Oliakune, and only recently £33,001) was spent on an electric light installation anil various other local improvements, and this disastrous visitation will mean a serious setback.

l'Voin Raetilii tho iire belt extends to Ruatiti, but about this latter district very I'ttle is su far known. Ou Tuesday a policeman rede through Hactihi with the news that the whoie district was ablaze and that all the bush farms had been burnt. The Mangatiui, Parapara, and I'ipiriki roads are beleivcd to have fared badly.

A settler named Moran to Raetihi in a pitiable condition and thence rusiied to Ohakune. All his face and scalp and his hands were burned, but his eyesight was preserved.

Landmarks of Disaster. Traversing this morning the road from Ohakune to Kaetiln, evidence there was in plenty ol me gieat hayou wrought by tlm nre, or rather teries ol iires, and of the hurried exodus ou the part, of settlers and sawmill bauds. Shortly alter Jiast Ohakuno was left behind several burned-out places were encountered. Three and a half miles out the whole counqrysida bore much evidence of having Suffered severely. Scarcely an ash remained ol three sawmills, and this in a stretch of one mile. The Mungamingi Native pa escaped, but numerous sawmill hands lost house, furniture, and everything. The road was littered with settlers' effects Here a rag doll, which some toddling infant had cjung to til the last moment, and handy were blankets and bed clothes and tlio like all abandoned. Some settlers had half buried a fow of their worldly possessions in the vain hope of saving them, while others were to be discerned disconsolately rummaging amongst the ruins. The Maori settlers were typically lighthearted over the disaster. Every now and again a mud-besplashed horseman would draw rein and anxiously inquire of the party for news of relatives whom ho had not located, and receiving his answer dash on again along the smokebound valley. ■ On all sides telegraph and telephone lines were down, and the road was in places strewn with fallen monarchs of the forest. Two bridges were missing, and the roofs of_ some, houses had been blown off anil dispersed by tho cyclone. Burning trees continued to crash close to the roadside, and about a mile outside of Raetihi, where the cyclone had made its presence most felt, huge green trees lay uprooted. Verily it was for many a hopeless dawn.

Relief Measures. An active worker in relieving the homeless and. distressed was Mr. It. Smith, member for Waimarino.. This afternoon ho forwarded a large quantity of , foodstuffs to Raetihi, tha distribution of which he undertook to superintend. Realising that more drastic measures were necessary he dispatched the following telegram to-day to the Prime Minister at" Auckland:—• "Horopito, iiaetihi and districts swept by fire. Hundreds homeless, penniless and absolutely without food. Imperative Government give immediate relief. Suggest you authorise mo to confer with chairman Waimarino County Council, Mayor of Ohakune, and chairmen Raetihi County Council and Town Board, giving us power to act on Government's behalf to do whatever temporarily necessary for fire sufferers. Any other method dealing with situation too slow. Ohakune railway authorities have done excellently, but to enablo them to be of maximum assistance suggest you wire Hon. Homes asking him authorise granting euffercrs free Carriage effects and passages by the certificate chairman any local bodies mentioned. Please reply through railway' wires. All others down."

Meanwhile many destitute settlers are wandering about the streets of Raotihi and other townships, many of them in a semi-dazed condition. Among the .hand of volunteer helpers much praise is duo to Mr. J. A. Bush, of Marton, a partner in the Ranmtaua Company's mills, himself a fairly nenvy loser through the fire.