The Fires at Stratford and Neighbourhood. A Review of the Disaster. New Plymouth, Jan. 13.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 137, 16 January 1886, Page 5

The Fires at Stratford and Neighbourhood. A Review of the Disaster. New Plymouth, Jan. 13.

The disasters of the week are too many, too indefinite as to known extent and cost, and too uncertain as to their renewal, to enable your correspondent to give a complete account of them, and say, here endeth a melancholy episode of the New Year. When, this afternoon, the township of Stratford was left, all immediate danger was over, but the whole square mile of clearing on which the township stands was dotted over at intervals of a few yards with logs of timber, old and rotten in some instances, sound in others, but in all dry as months of a summer sun and hours of a scorching fire could make them ; ani each log was a smouldering fire, and each fire an embryo conflagration. It wanted but the wind to fan the whole into flame ; and it was the knowledge of this fact that induced Messrs Curtis to ask for assistance from New Plymouth, which was responded to by thedespatchof a body of firemen, with engine and a large quantity of hose, to the centre of the burning district. These are to make Stratford their head-quarters, and proceed whither emergency calls them. Along the line of railway from Norman by to Mid hurst, a distance of 20 milos in length, and two or more in breath, the fire king has made his summer haunt, and newly -fallen bush, indifferently or badly burnt clearings of former years, and even standing fore&t, are equally with him an object of consumption. Some three miles south of Stratlord can beseenacomparatively green spot, which speaks of the distance the Stratford fire had reached before the providential change in the direction of the checked its advance. Then another mile and the JVgaere is reached. Smoke enveloped is the village, and with fires all round, but as yet without loss of home by the flames. Three miles again, and the sound of crackling branch and falling tree tell of monster blaze in the vicinity, but as yet Kltham also has escaped without its number of houses being diminished. But if no house has been destroyed, fences innumerable have fallen a prey, and thousands of acres of cocksfoot grass have been lost between MidhurstandNormanby. In the vicinity of Stratford, the number of holdings which have suffered loss of buildings is 34, 22 being dwelling-houses, and the remainder outbuildings, tents, etc. The rough estimate placed upon these, together with other property destroyed, I have heard stated at between £7,000 and £8,000 The insurance is trifling in the extreme, and the Standard the principal sufferer, but only for a few hundreds, prob ably less than five in all. Many poor people have lost their all, with the exception of their plot of mother earth, all above that having been swept away. Those present at the commencement of the general conflagration speak of it as quite unique, inasmuch as there was no steady approach of fire from any particular direction, but at the command of the wind a sudden bursting into flames of innumerable isolated fires, which gathered body as the wind increased till great pieces of blazing bark and light decayed timber were flying before it, carrying the kindling for other fires to the inflammable material ahead. This continued for four or five hours, when the wind suddenly changed and fell away, and further devastation was suspended, if not finally prevented. The smoke was and is indescribably dense, and as a result a large percentage of those en gaged in attempting to baffle the flames are partially deprived of sight. Fences were totally destroyed, and the cattle and horses depasturing within them left to wander into such safety as instinct indicated. Pigs were roasted in their styes. Men battled with the flames by pouring water on the logs, covering them with earth, and by every expedient which suggested itself, and as the heat and smoke exhausted them, they fled for relief to the bed of the Patea stream, to emerge again ■when refreshed by scenty rest, voluruinoudraughts of water, and, more than all to them, the purer air, only to be thereobtained. Blankets, rugs, carpets, bags, and everything of a like nature were soaked in water, and spread over the roofs of the houses. It must not be supposed that the buildings saved have been rescued intact from the flames; not a house on the township clearing but what has suffered in its proportions and come crippled out of the danger, and as they stand amidt-t the blackened stumps on the withered grass, they have that appearance which, in humanity, is called careworn in contradistinction to age. Among the gloomy details a brighter side is given to the disaster, a silver lining to the cloud, when it is chronicled that at present no human life is lost, nor breadwinner, housewife, youth, maiden, nor dimpled baby missing. In the hurry of departure a mother for a moment overlooked the absence of one of her little one*, and when she discovered her loss she returned towards the house which they had left in flames. She was met by neighbours who assured her they bad the missing child, who should spend the night with them. Thus the mother's anxiety was quietened, and she passed the night in comparative comfort ; but when in the morning she discovered from her neighbours that her child was not with them, despair had well-nigh bereft her of reason. A search was made in the partially burnt house, and there in the dwelling, almost miraculously saved from total destruction, was found the slumbering object of their anxious search. Again, the Leymans left their house only when the flames had a firm hold, and husband, wife, and four children proceeded to fight their way through the burning bush They were surrounded on all sides ; escape was apparently impossible, till at last the father placed them all in the centre of a field of growing potatoes, and pulling up the haulm, covered the whole party with it. The flameB passed over, the leaves of the potatoes were withered by the fervent heat, but the fugitives all escaped alive. One ohild only was injured. A burning brand, wind borne, settled on her hip as she lay, and burned the clothes entirely off her, scorching the flesh. As the wound giew cooler the skin contracted, and the litrle one cannot place her foot to the ground in consequence. They found shelter at a neighbour's, who himself had barely escaped. Instances could be multiplied, but it is not necessary,

The greatest exertions are being made in Hawera and New Plymouth to provide food, clothing, and shelter for the sufferers. Subscriptions are being got up, and public and private aid ireely offered. Those who loose most are amongt the poorer class of settlers, and assistance will be absolutely necessary in many cases. Your correspondent arrived home late from the scene of disaster, and as the Etawea sails in a few hours it is necessary to close my letter. It is mentioned by some that the evil is not an unmixed one, and that the fire has swept away what could not otherwise have been removed but by years of crumbling decay. Ac before stated, it is too early to estimate the extent of the loss ; and as a rising wind may again call your reporter away, he will seek some much-needed rest to fit him for the emergency.