SERIOUS BUSH FIRES IN AUCKLAND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 50, 27 February 1879, Page 4

SERIOUS BUSH FIRES IN AUCKLAND.

Mr Mr-Gee (:he well-known race* hoiso owner), ra.t with some fterious accidents to aevoro! racehorses he wae bringing from KiMkati to the Thitne.. Ho wsb mossing the Wnihi Plaint between K.tikai end Ohin-Miiuri. un*J HpcßlD9 enveloped in a ÜBhU B h lire. Waihi Plain, ie a swamp, (.cross which are bridge J opproche3 to a bridga at both finds, which is wade by tUtree fascines. It is supposed Koine one had thrown away a lighted match> which set fire to tbe dry fascio. s; apd thence it aptcad fo the adjoining f-.ro, ti-tre«\ grans, &c. Approaching the bridge, McGee saw that he would have lo rush through the fire or return at utmost speed to Katikati. He decided on the former course, and in doing 85 Perfome, the three-year-old filly by Ake Ake, the Forest Queen, Skylark, and olher 1 orses were more or less burned, lome of them so severely that they will have to go out of training for some time. Some mischievous individuals set fire to the road to Katikati, causing a large amount of damage; it haa totally destroyed five chains of road and several bridges, and it will cost the county some £400 to trade the road passable again. Fires of the most destructive character are at the present time raging in various parts of the country. One of thß moat serious at the present time is on native land, south of Kaikohe, near Hokisng, where an extensive kauri forest is in Humes, and a gentleman just returned from the district described the fire as being of a most lamfntable character, involving the destruciion of millions of feet of kauri, ani other valuable timb.r. Gum digl gera are supposed to have started the enc {.aeration by firing the fern. The Waikato district has also beea pretty well enveloped in either fUme or smoke lately, miles of unoccupied land having been swept clear of fern, ti-tree, and all kinds of herbage by the devouring element. It is iime that some legislative measures were taken to prevent indiscriminate raising of bush fires for the purpose of land clearing. Mr R. C. Dyer, who bad some bouses destroyed in the Mahuraogi district by a fire tbat was deliberately kindled, and spread beyond the control of tbose who set it going, is about to take legal proceediogs in tbe matter, for the purpose of clearly proviug the responsibility of those wbo may originate the fire.— Wellington Chronicle.