DESOLATE SCENES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19723, 14 December 1926, Page 9

DESOLATE SCENES

IN THE TRACK OF BUSH FIRES

APPALLING DISASTER IN NEW SOUTH WALES

FURTHER LOSS OF LIFE

By Telegraph—Per Press Assn.—Copyright.

Received Dec. 13, 8.15 p.m. SYDNEY, Dec. 13. Further messages from the southern and western districts emphasise the seriousness of the bush fires. Enormous damage has been done and half l the State is affected. Scores of farmers have lost the fruits of years of labour. Their losses include dwellings, outhouses, machinery, crops, pastures and stock. In some parts the flames travelled at the rate of 40 miles an hour, going through farm after farm. A report from Albury states that tho total loss in that district exceeds £50,000. In»the Wagga district practically every farmer in a strip of country five to fifteen miles wide for a distance of 30 miles suffered serious losses. Nothing like it has been experienced since 1907, when tragic fires occurred. The township of Adelong is threatened by fire advancing upon it. A fatality is reported from Junec, where it is said the fires are the biggest ever seen in the district. * Fire Break of No Avail. At Mil ton a timber mill was destroyed despite a fire break which was prepared round the mill. A large number of men will be thrown out of employment. It is impossible to estimate the damage done in the western district. There the loss of stock is heavy, as well as the loss of standing crops and bagged wheat. Two men are reported missing near Forbes, also two others near Elongelong. The fire (cabled yesterday) was at Walgett, not at Wagga, when £20,000 worth of damage was done. To-night’s reports from the stricken areas state that the fires continue to advance on Adelong, travelling rapidly before a strong wind. Unless the wind abates the position of the town will be hopeless, as the flames are coming through thickly grassed and wooded country. Men are fighting frantically to save the town. Fate of Two Fire Fighters. Two more deaths are reported, making the total six. One occurred at Eulomo station, near Waggtf, where thousands of sheep were roasted. James, a retired farmer, fighting the flames, was trapped and fatally burned. The other death was at Urualba, on the North Coast, where David Nillon collapsed after helping to extinguish the outbreak. Sinister rumours are abroad in the Riverina district, that phosphorus was found on the scene of some fires, and that unemployed men had been vindictive towards farmers who refused to engage them. The fires continue in many parts of the State, but the big outbreak at Cootamundra is now under control. Losses of stock are enormous, while miles of fencing has been destroyed. Many thousands of sheep in the Cootamundra district were so badly burned that they had to be destroyed. Scenes of desolation meet the eye throughout the State, and the damage enormous that it is impossible so far to make any estmate. Dead and Dying Stock. Scenes of appalling desolation greet the eye in the Grenfell district, dead and dying stock being met with in all directions, some walking about blind. The whole district is overwhelmed by the awful stench from the dead bodies. No timber is left standing to burn the carcases with, and coal tar is being taken out for the purpose. Many heroic stories are told of women and girls taking food and drink through the blazing country to the fire fighters. Practically all parts of the State have suffered under the visitation, and tho devastation is so widespread that it will be many weeks before a proper estimate can be made. Police throughout the State have been instructed to afford immediate relief to sufftrers. The Government Savings Bank will also loan sufficien’t money to enable losers ot homesteads to rebuild. In the stricken districts many men and women are to be seen whose only possessions are the clothes they are wearing. Many women saved their lives by sheltering in cattle dams, in which they were compelled to continue to immerse themselves to escape the intense heat.