AUSTRALIAN HEAT AND BUSH FIRES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 447, 7 January 1909, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN HEAT AND BUSH FIRES.

Great Damage Done.

Sydney, January 5

A cyclone at Blayney unroofed and shattered many buildings. It devastated the show grounds. Bush fires are sweeping the country round Yass. Many settlers have been burned out. The women and children were rescued wrapped in wet blankets. Others took refuge in the dairying districts on the south coast.

Singleton, Dungog, Bathurst and Wagga have suffered severely from numerous destructive outbreaks.

The township of Bundaldry in the Grenfell district is surrounded by fires. Round Gundagai s^,oooacres of grass have been destroyed. The fires are unchecked.

The damage by fires at Yass is estimated at over ,£IOO,OOO. Helped by a strong wind the flames travelled at 15 miles an hour.

The township of Nowra was ringed by fire, but the great efforts of the fire brigade and hundreds of townsfolk saved it. At Bremarrina the thermometer registered 123. The intense heat has caused severe injury to the fruit crops everywhere. Thousands of pounds worth of stone fruit, grapes and tomatoes have been shrivelled up and destroyed. Numerous cases of heat apoplexy are reported. Brisbane, January 5,

A fire destroyed the Heslop Company’s large bulk store, the damage being estimated at over ,£20,000.