WAIRARAPA AFFAIRS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 55, 10 February 1872, Page 8

WAIRARAPA AFFAIRS.

Two more destructive fires have occurred since my last, one of which has done great damage to standing timber, and the other burning up all the grass and fences in its course for a distance of some four or five miles, The first of these fires threatened the total destruction of the Woodaide saw mills, and the second that of Mr Dakin's house and buildings, East Taratahi. By very great and long continued efforts on the part of the workmen employed at the one, the fire at present has been prevented from reaching the buildings, and the valuable stock of sawn timber and by the exertions of Mr Dakin and his neighbors, some of whom came several miles to render assistance, the lire was prevented from reaching further than his woolshed, but not before that became ignited. The fire in the bush at Woodside is still raging and the mill is not yet free from danger. On Saturday morning the fire got across the Greytown side of the Waiohine; but, as there was plenty of water close by, it was soon extinguished, or Mr Revan's residence would have stood but a poor chance of escaping. The loss sustained by the settlers on both sides the Taratahi, in the destruction of fences, &c, has been very great; and the worst of it is this loss falls chiefly upon a large number of small-farmers, who are in no position to bear it. Between thirty and forty settlers at Carterton sustained more or less loss by the late fire, and committees have been appointed to collect subscriptions for the relief of the sufferers. The Foresters are going to give a concert and ball in aid of the relief fund, which is to come off at the Town Hall, Greytown, on Thursday, the loth instant, and which, for the sake of the object, will no doubt be well attended. The Rev A. Knell returned from town on Thursday, and was rather surprised at the action which had been taken in his absence. But as the sub-committees that were appointed will, no doubt, act under the trustees appointed by the Provincial Government, who, I believe, are Messrs Knell, Haynes, and Renall, this action may not prove so objectionable as it was at first feared. On the understanding that the sum of £2OO is collected, the Provincial Government will give a grant of an equivalent sum from the treasury, provided that the whole amount be devoted towards the restoration of the dwelling houses that were burnt. The annual meeting of the shareholders in the Boiling-down Company is to be held at Greytown on Thursday next. The company has not at present obtained a tenant for their works, which have been idle for a long time past.

Mr H. T. Spratt has handed me for publication the letter he has received from the Public Works Office, which I am authorised to say has given satisfaction to the memorialists, who comprise a very large majority of the settlers in the district. The letter is- written by the Under Secretary, and runs as follows :

Sir, —I am directed by Mr GHsborne to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th iustant, in which you enclose further signatures to the petition originally forwarded in your letter of the 4th December last, and in reply to inform you, as, I have previously had the honor to inform Mr Eenall, that the questiou of the route of the proposed railway line in Wairarapa will be carefully recon.

sidered, with a view to combine, as far as practicable, economy of construction with the greatest development of the resources of settled and unsettled land. Mr G-isborne will be obliged by your communicating this intention to the petitioners. Mi* John Bassell and Mr Oates, both belonging to the Carterton Rifle Volunteers, will be the representatives for this district at the Government prize firing at the Christchurch meeting ; the first having obtained a total score of 75 and the second of 72 marks. Owing to the drought milch cows are fast going dry, while the sultry weather has prevented butter from being made to any great extent, which will doubtless have an effect on its price. In the adjoining district of Kawke's Bay both cattle and sheep are dying for want of water, while fresh butter there is not to be had. It has not as yet come to this in the Wairarapa, but the great destruction of feed by grass fires must for a time be felt severely by the live stock of the district.