THE NORSEWOOD FIRES.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 250, 28 March 1888, Page 10

THE NORSEWOOD FIRES.

Wllungtox, March 26. Jjlh, .li i.tv-. To 'v;\ud, Danish Consul at V>*cllin^ r tou, ha- just returned from a visit vo the district; just devastated by the I'ecent l»ush fires. Ho has communicated the tollou iutr incident to the Minister of Lands : u Forty buiij ing- have been destroyed, and 120 families and 50 C'hildien are homeless juul pennile- . One painful incident was ♦nought to u:\ notice, hut it was brightened by the se!f mc iticinu act of Mr Uees, the *Uni<h cle^viuru} in the district. A ftctclcrV v.tt, the mother of eight children, vho.e name I cannot recall, >■ as on the c v of her comlnoment. In the absence oC her husband, she had gone to i»ed, and wim unable to move. Mr Rees, v/howao tticoinij t i hole to bury his valuable library 'of booto, ulmo-t his sole possession, 4eft his hov^e a'ui hi.-* vk ifo, and lifting the v oman into h^ buggy, drove some miles nvray thioupJi the den^e smoke to a corn«tarati\ely .■xUe place. The mother gave firth 10 a n child. On his return he found his ov r> hotne burned to tiie ground v. ith nil iii belongings, including all his cherished \o!umes, but he saved the * Oman's life. So dense was the smoke and iuten-e the licit, that many were temjroiaiily bhndec', and }>eople had to take nefuge in theditcho 0 . lying face down wards, a« order to be able to breathe."