HEAT WAVE IN AUSTRALIA

Gisborne Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1346, 5 January 1905, Page 2

HEAT WAVE IN AUSTRALIA

:v-~ ; NUMEROUS FATALITIES. ‘ , "I' - : - HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE RUIN) T By Telegraph—Press Association—Ccjiy*!. ' . . -• ;; •.' • •: • The Lord Mayor has convene^' a in : ing for to-day to inaugurate a fund for s', v relief of sufferers by the-fircs. The ne ; ; , papers also opci. funds.- -> • •' - As oommanications ars.restored and tails trickle .in,’ they show that , both regards extent of country afflicted, and tfe. ' amount of damage tho fires are the met 'serious ever experienced in ,tba Btat. Whole districts have been swept bare, am. ||

hundreds of settlers 'are compieteif ruined. A. still larger number are crippled. " . , •. - : t Besides many thousencls'bf ebeep anwjlli other stock; roaeted to nrw 51 * bers have v bitui. badly sufferings fire as iiltiajy Guhdagai reports tliat. w*/' on Monday right the first time since Fr/ of the fire was' ’cfcr and fencing are ktVs ~ i around vid. ■ jLftßb thorpagL, sib’e to , Eleven hx. burned, wbiu wheat. At Wyndham . burned to death. There have .been u. escapee. A lady and \ .... were driving in a buggy were sui. The buggy was barned. The lady’s arose caught, and she barely managed to ea-, cape. rV , k -NvStock in the devastated districts Is starving. ■ . - In the Wagga district the Woodlands ' estate lost 9 000 acres of grass, Berryjorry : 20,000. and Sandy Creek -30,000. The fire swept Bookbook station.: clean, and did £12,000 worth of damage on Kydmba estate..' •• ' \ , : ij’- ’' •' Out of a travelling m&b of 5000 sltisep 1000 were barned.' ' ,'j f Proportionately the small owners ass® settlers suffered mere extensively ana severely. , At Marramharrah, off the Cunningham estate 40,000- acres of. grass were swept away; on otter estate 12,000 acres, besides crops, - - machinery,, and woolsbed I Gown’s, 6000 acres ■ of i grass and 3000 acres of crops ; Graham’s, 400. acres of grass, 200 tohß of hay,: end 200 sheep; Spaceman's, 250, acres nf wheat; Mnrpby’s, 9000 acres of grass and 600 sheep. These are only a', few samples of many similar snfferers. . : Billabong station w aa swept! clean of grass, wheat crops, hay stable, and other property. The property of Btr.sli settlers has been totally destroyed. . An nnknown mein, was -burned to death at EUerßlie station, and another so badly that there is small hope of his recovery. Many, are’ suffering from barns received whilst fighting the flames. . .. . . < The roads are littered with dead and dying stock. Albury reports that the fire is practically in hand. It has . swept an area, of ?P miles in length and from 10 to SO miloa in breadth.' , Amongst many sufferers aria -Banka Bros.,- who have lost £"'*oo worth of wheat; Mrs Westendorf, 800 tons b' iiay ; Hall,' 1000 breeding ewes; Mitaheil estate, Tabletop, 8000 acres of grass and ’2OOO sheep. ' . , /v:' .''-v/.. . . At GermaDton Mrs Mitchell died froth tba shock of seeing her house'bnrned.'. - , MelbonroeV Jan. 4.

Rain, whioh is general throughout the State, has, quenched the bush fires..; .. -Brisbane, .Tan 4. A severe heat wave is being experienced throughout Queensland, -v. There are m number of. deaths froofheat apoplexy. Bash fires are raging' in the Dailey district. - ‘ .

* NEW (Per Press- Association.) = ■' Christchurch, last nigh*, 'ln reply to a telegram from the edltof of Truth re tbe Australian bush fires, enquiring whrether the New Zealand Government propose to take- any- aotioc* in the direptioh of organising a’- relief-‘fund, the Premier telegraphs : Yours se the first and only" communication received by tho New Zealand Government on - the subject. Our- warmest, sympathies are with - our Australian neighbors in the bush fires that have' overtaken them. A movement for praotioal sympathy and our assistance must spring. .from the people, and be spontaneous to be successful, both as regards , organisation and. general, character, and this being the ease the Go* vornmsnt wifi, as on previous occasions, lend itself to the kindly action.—(Si>nedi R. J. Sedaon.” Wanganui, last night.' The Mayor of Wanganui has called a publio meeting for Friday tostart.a fund ombehtlf of the sufferers.by fires in Aastr~"/>; Several subscriptions are already in njrd. .

FIRES PRACTICALLY EXTINGUISHED.

ESTABLISHING A BELIEF FUND ’

. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright Received 10.20 p.m., Jan. 4. s -Sydney, Jan 4.. Nows from the country to day is to rho • effect that the bush fires are practically extinguished. Ia som.g instances they burned themselves out, while in the majority of oases rain assisted the sufferers' tc extinguish them. ~ ■ ' An influential meeting of citizens)n.4he\ Town Hall, the.-Lord Mayor -presiding,. expressed, sympathy for the sufferers, D- - » was decided, on the motion of Mr - ruthers, to invite sabscriptionß«throughxmt r : - the State*. The meeting appointed a re prosentativb oommittee. Over were subscribed in the room. . ' '

A. GREAT SWEEP SOME DETAILS' OF LOSSES*

j FIGHTING" THE FLAMES. . By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright > Received 12.55 a.m., Jan- S. -v-wP i '-■> •• V Sydney, Jan. 4. . f Dofcails of the fires in the Delegate^district show -.that the town was only saved by She efforts of large bodies of meo, who * fought the Fames for four days and nights. The fires spreading from several centres A wept r } area of 150 square miles. Scoresof settVero wb'h managed to save - their homes ioSt'everything eLe. Collins lost his wooLclip, 500 sheep, and 1000 aores or - grass-; he only saved a - : <j, whir 1 -- *—-k refuge'.in the - -dwelling-’ lost his woolßhed, «t----3000 acres of gre his house, wool founded with fi sevoral times, into a vraterhol Walker lost tbe Eppleton lost . Ingram bis how saved hr i\h a CorraLS?; grass, 600 sheq^j' ;do’sJrpyed*S;-SS ; .^^( ’ On j sheds witbthe||g| acres of grass,§f||| DfsTKe. fossae jiHm known,’ but itsWu perished,y' -■' teg-i .Rain,’’most. cases, : ;spread: cepting :(tho: 4 'V** Queensland bo "2 The. district whe-afijlbsses;; estimated ; at $ bust* tB. WE ’ral? Bf' "ts