KIKES IN THE WAIKATO

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 454, 15 March 1890, Page 5

KIKES IN THE WAIKATO

CONS JDE LIABLE DESTR UCTION. Tni; news.of the .week is unimportant in many respects. The great trouble we have on hand now (writes our Hamilton cor-, respondent) is fire. All over the district from end to end bush and swamp fires, are raging, and the amount of damage being done is something sad to contemplate. Nearly every busli on tho flat country has been or is being gutted by tire, and the result is that fencing and other timber will be completely wiped out. Thousands of acres of swamp, too,have been burned, and many thousands of tons of flax destroyed thereby, and in many instances there is little doubt bub that the fires have been started wilfully. In some instancesthe police authorities are making a searching inquiry, and if the offenders can be found out prosecutions will follow. If some one was to get six months in gaol for fire-raising the evil might bo mitigated, and the public verdict would be “Serve him light.” lam perfectly certain that £IO,OOO or £12,000 would nob pay for the loss by (ire in the Waikato district proper during the last six weeks. We had a thunderstorm on Sunday and about one hour's rain, which just about laid the dust. On Saturday morning wo had a fog, largely composed of smoke, which could have held its own with one of the best London fogs on record. It lasted until about 11 o’clock and then cleared a little, bub all day the sun could be gazed on with impunity, looking like a red ball of fire through the smoke. So far no homesteads have been destroyed, although many have had narrow escapes. “Auckland Star,” March 12.