MANY BUSH FIRES

DROUGHT ON WEST COAST FOREST LIKE TINDER (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) GEEYMOUTH, This Day. All along the Coast bush fires are burning in more or less serious proportions, and if a gale springs up considi)able damage to property is likely. The long spell of dry hot weather has made the usually damp vegetation like tinder, and a carelessly dropped match or cigarette butt is all that is required to start a bush fire that will destroy many acres of the famed Coast scenery; The fires may have been started by settlers desirous of clearing the bush. Tires are reported right from Otira to South Wesland. At Lake Kanieri yesterday,, smoke obscured part of the lake itself, as well as the surrounding hills, and the sotting sun presented a queer spectacle, appearing as a bloodred orb of fire through the haze. The- sawmill at Kotuku was reported yesterday to be menaced by the bush fires, and Molloy's Creek Mill, near Bell Hill, was destroyed. The water tanks, upon which many Coasters depend, are becoming low. Many of the smaller streams and creeks are dry, and dust clouds along the roads, duo to tho abnormally heavy motor traffic, are as dense as the smoke from the bush fires.