DISASTROUS BUSH FIRES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 230, 17 February 1913, Page 5

DISASTROUS BUSH FIRES.

NTRYSIDE DEVASTATED. I>y Association. : ; Cisborne, Saturday. Matawaj-reports that the fin's burned steadily through the night,and that the situation is, yet .ikngcvous. The countryside is devastated. A good fight was put up by the settlers.day and night, and many are'exhausted. ..William and John Chuks .homesteads were surrounded b} fire. Sheep.\vere rosated in heaps within sighlt of their,helpless owners at Abbottsfonj; Smith lost 1200 sheep, John Clark 1000;,, other settlers' losse.-s eannnt be ascertained till the fire clears. At the timbqr ; #iHlß the ,hand.s been fighting the: fifes,with bucket brigades anA lios<f 'froiji the .boilers, for twenty-four hours, (Hid tlifv. have . rio far kept the fire 'bacjkj. Layge .slacks of building timber 'have.been lost,.

•POVERTY KAY HINTERLAMI) | ABLAZE. MTCIT PROPERTY DEVASTATED. Gisborne. Last Night. Reports from tlic backblocks go to show that practically the whole of the hinterland of Poverty Bay is ablaze or threatened with fire, in addition to an area of about 15 square miles which i? burning round Matawai. The fire extends to tlie norlh and wat far beyond Mo hi. while the back country round Tokomaru Bay is also seriously affected. Telephonic and telegraphic communication beyond Matawai is impossible, as the wires are down, but the correspondent at Motu, of the fiisbornc Times, writing on Saturday morning, stated that oil Thursday evening the bush fires, which had been raging ill adjacent areas, favored by a strong wind, came right down to the river bank, and until 10.30 o'clock on Friday morning Quirk's sawmill, and Mrs. 0. Hansen's and Misses Tyerman. Elliott, Thomson and Johnston's residences were all in serious danger. The timber at llie mill caught several times during the night, but the Humes were quickly extinguisncd by willing workers. On Friday morning fires wora raging all round the mill, when a heavy shower of rain fortunately put a check on the 11anies. On Friday night, the danger was considered a- practically over, and tlie many workmen who bad been engaged in the light to protect property were enabled to obtain some sleep. At Tokomant Hay serious losses are reported. Messrs. (Irav Tiros.' homestead. woolshed ;iml all other buildings were dc>t roved, while a h>i. o! stork perished and miles of fencing was burned up. Mr. 1!. Kemp also lost much stock ;ind fencing, and Messrs. Saxbv and Cotton! I's fencing. Although at present in this district the lire* show no signs of abating, there is no anticipation of further serious damage. At Matawai. which i> in the heart of a raging furnace, the lircs were still burning iiercelv this morning, and settlers are exhausted. It will he impossible to -ecure reliable reports from this district until 10-nighl.

IX BLEXITETM' DISTRICT. POSITION* SERIOUS. I'loiihi-iin. East Xiglit. Pmsli fires are buniinji in various parts of the Wakamai inn district. Practically tin; wliolo of tin- valley is_ enveloped in flames and smoke, ami it is feared that the houses of Messrs. Thompson. TSourke and Rnsniussen will he destroyed. Messrs. Xelson and Mayo > houses are also in imminent peril.

At - Golden Bay the situation is serious. Fisk's boardinghou-.e and twenty whares belong lo the battery employees are threatened. Air. and Airs. Cowling, returning from Golden T1 ay on the Wakaiuarina road, were compelled to gallop their horses half a mile through the heat and dense smoke. '

A dense lire is also burning in the Rai Valley, and the mail coach from Blenheim to Xelson only got through in time.