Whole Districts swept by Flame.

Bush Advocate, Volume XVI, Issue 603, 3 January 1905, Page 5

Whole Districts swept by Flame.

* ;•:_...-•'. t Sydney, Sunday. Yesterday's reading at the Observa* tory^-rwhipu i» iisjially sdeg to lOdfcg cooler than in the city-^was IG7/6deg. Only one warmer day has been recorded during the piastforiy -six years. In the suburbs the temperature ranged up to 117deg: At 8 p.m. it was still iOOdeg W th e vitJ' '■•■ Then : the temperature fell under a southerly change, i disastrous grass and bush fires are raging in the Kiverina, doing tremenv dous- damage. Crops and homesteads have been swept away. Farmers ana their families ate taking refuge in the townships. Baridspf firefighters are, striving to save property. Between, Junep, and Tumut^ an. area fifty miles by thirty, is a scathing mass oVM<::/:^'-:rS : .■■■■■ '■■^, ;:;-.;■ .■• ;■;-,}>_ {Nearly all the farmers i in the Adelong district have been burnt' but. Telegraph lines in all directions are ; burnt. .;■ Sydney's ; maximum reading to-day Was 79d<eg. Telegraphic communication with i many places is interrupted;. The stations reporting to-day mostly indicate a similar welcome fall in the tempeiteture; " ; ; ! : - ;■: y. ;■ > ■''■.'^■■^v' ■■■ '■Ber^an,:With i2sdeg., topped y^s^ terday's ■records. Condobolin reported I22deg; Goodooga, i2odeg; Bourke, n6deg; Gundagai, xijsdeg* O '■'._ .■V.'.Eiye distinct fires have devastated the country all round Gundagai, , a distance of frbm fifteen to thirty miles. Very lew. settlers on this area escaped either the total dr. partial destruction of their property. The losses are estimated at tens of thousands of pounds. - .'• ■'■ / :.■'•■; : ■■■■' '<';. ■■ ; In; the Burrowa district over two thousand 1 sheep and other stock were burned. : Maitlaxid, Goulburn, and,H urrumtiurira-h report that tremendous fires are raging, and that there has vast destruction of grass 'cf opsY' Many settles are ruined. In some cases '■! townships are in danger, and the; | whole or the residents 'are but fighting the: flames; ■..'■"-. .-.- -■ :•" ' ' „ > .-■'■,-; ■. : >-• '"J " ; MELBOtfBNBi Sunday; j Great lieat is being experienced in Victoria. The temperature at'Mildtirar topped the list yesterday with 121£deg; The heat is so intense in several parts of the country that birds B;nd pigs are dying. ■:,■■.: ;.■■■.. <.\--i -' ■'. ■ : ,v..- ■".. : -/> V: :;i Sydney, January 2. . LenebamY farm at Jiudtra was destroyed and Mrs Laneham perished in the flames. : . ■-■■'■> • ''-'-..'.. ' : :.);;.. "..■'. . ':■ ..-■■■■>' Five death* have ocenred from heat apoplexy at Albury and numbera elsewhere. ; ,■■'.. "■..■ ■■;■■■■ i 7 : '-' :: : ■•.■;■.''/■•/' .-■:-.■■ Temora is circled with fires. Birda dropped dead from the intonse heat, and over a thousand sheep have perished. At Robertson's Mimoaa statioo one man was severely burned aud another is missing. :,- ' -r"-,;:-";^ ::;<', ■■ : '':'-- : -' ■■:" AtCunninghaui's Plains the Station of Murrum hurrah lost forty thousand acres of grass. The fire is ten miles wide and is sweeping (Jlarangula station. The mountain range atong the south coast is ablaze for miles and a grand effect is seen by paßSsogTesssls. - . The ffre fighters are hiving a terrible time. The whole towniship are eiieiaged in the battle and many a>? completely exhausCed. • There are several uncomfirmed reports of persons missing. Thefires are still raging .furiously. ... The damage is estimated at hundreds of thousands. r \ 1 : At 3s ftrandera- thousands of acres.tof grass, and miles of fencing have been burned, and Gromggrong, Buhdidgarie, and Buckingbong stations, and- Coota-:-miuLdm;.:|ana y ;M.utthmura' estates have been swepit^ ■ '■ '•".'."■ A "ry : };'-\ ' " ;;. '■ .One farmer lost a hundred acres of Iwheat.-. , ;■■ " ; ; . .;•■ ':".' ' _. ■■. ' , ■ I. for miles the country is' ablaze/ j Many farmers are ruined and homeless. V Similar reports come from Carcoar and Hillgrove districts. „ j v Bound Mossvale scores of farms have been swept, and for miles on both sides .Qfr," the railway ia a seething mass of flames. : The Government have instructed the police throughout the State to use every effort assist and relieve the sufferers.' by the bush fires. ; • ■The weather for the holiday was sultry, the sun being ; hidden 'in a dense haze from the bush fires. ' A fire completely destroyed the Lismore Convent, .containing forty large rooms, the pro-oatheclral,- the swimming bath, and the house adjoiningi sit damaged also the foundations of the new cathedral. The thermometer at the .time of the outbreak registered 112 in the shade. . Destructive bush fires are prevalent inftite district..' .. , "