VIOLENT GALE AND BUSH FIRES.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 1046, 3 November 1877, Page 3

VIOLENT GALE AND BUSH FIRES.

Friday was a particularly unpleasant day to pedestrians in town, in consequence of the clouds of dust borne along by violent gusts of north-westerly wind, but in several of the country districts the gale was felt much more severely, and has been attended by a variety of disasters —strange coach and railway accidents, destruction of house property, and the burning of some valuable bush. A Malvern telegram informs us of an accident of extraordinary character to the mail coach proceeding to the West Coast. Some of the old drivers of these coaches gave evidence lately before the Supreme Court in Wellington as to the occasional feats or freaks of the wind on the higher parts of the overland road, but none of them was of such extraordinary character as that which the wind effected o« Friday near Redfern’s Hotel, Kowai Pass. It excels that which happened at Rimutaka, and which formed the subject of the trial at which the evidence referred to was given, The coach was literally lifted up in the air, and then broken to pieces by being dashed to the ground. The passengers had fortunately made their escape, though not all unhurt, before this happened. The coach coming this way had also, not far from the same spot, to be brought to a standstill for some time, in consequence of the strength of the wind. The passengers by the same coach had been previously prevented for three days from pursuing their journey by the height of the floods in the Bealey and other intervening rivers. At Ashburton the gale was felt with unusual severity. The morning was ushered in with a fresh N.E. breeze, which at nine o’clock chopped round to the north-west, and increased in strength till noon, when it became a fierce gale. At two o’clock a house in Moore street, belonging to Mr M. Smith, builder, and which was in course of ejection, went down before its force. Soma of the large stores in Fast street, which faces’the wind, had their shutters up all day, and two of the large new windows of Messrs Orr and Go’s store were blown in. At four o’clock the wind had not abated. Further south the same strong i wisd prevailedy oed cc tk© railway aeo?

Oamaru it is stated that one of the railway carriages was unroofed. At Oxford the gale fanned the flames of a bush fire into an extensive conflagration. A local correspondent, writing at 3 p.m., says : “ A tremendous hurricane is at present raging here, and also a very heavy fire in the bush. Where it may end is more than we can at present foresee. It is very doubtful. Some of the residents in East Oxford will be heavy sufferers. There does not appear to be any abatement of the danger. The wind is fearful.” From our correspondent in the Northern district we have further particulars of the fires at Oxford, but, by the accidental omission of a page of his communication, his description is incomplete. As we read it, it is as follows :

On Thursday a fire was discovered to have broken out in a part of the bush belonging to Mr Leurs, West Oxford, but with the aid of plenty of willing hands and a good supply of water was extinguished before any very serious damage was done. There was another fire, by which two cottages were burned, one of which belonged to Mr Youngman, and another to a man named Carter. The latter fire started about noon yesterday, and was burning very fiercely up to the hour of the evening train leaving, when rain began to fall, and the danger to the principal buildings of East Oxford was greatly reduced. The fire by last accounts was burning back to the hills, and no doubt in its course destroyed several of the huts of the bushmen. A portion of the bush burned contained a considerable proportion of dead and dry trees, in which the flames raged furiously, and the volumes of smoke driven over Oxford by the nor’-wester was quite suffocating. From a distance it was considered that the whole of the township was on fire. The wind in the district was so strong that many of the buildings were affected by it, and a large store opposite the new post office had to be secured with ropes to keep it in position.