EXTENSIVE DAMAGE. BUSH FIRES IN THE WAIMARINO

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 38, 14 February 1908, Page 2

EXTENSIVE DAMAGE. BUSH FIRES IN THE WAIMARINO

HOUSES DESTROYER. [BT TEIiEGItAFIT. — PKES3 ASSOCIATION ] TAIHAPE, 13th February. Fires in tho Waimarino district caused considerable damage through the wind rising yesterday and last night. Communication is broken, but from reports to hand it is known that many settlers around Ohakune and Rangataua had a trying time. Some houses were destroyed and others caught fire, but tho flames were suppressed after littlo damage had been done. One five-room-ed dwelling-house and outbuildings were burned down, littlo being saved. There i 3 great loss of hay and winter feed. Several settlers are isolated, and cannot obtain help. Tho milk supply ia interrupted, only two suppliers getting to the creamery this morning The Maunganui-a-te-ao Valley is a mass of flames, and camps havo been destroyed. Fires are raging from the Makatote viaduct to the Taonui viaduct. Falling trees aro expected to interfere with coach traffic to Waimarino. The Rangataua station nearly went yesterday. As tho wind is again reviving, the danger is not half over. A sash and door factory and a butcher's shop at Horopito were destroyed. The Government stores had to bo moved to a cement shed. Tho fires at latest advices were spreading. At Mataroa,- Somerville's block is in flames, destroying fences and green bush. Tho settlers aro fighting the flames day and night, and are removing their furniture to places of safety. The sawmill in Somerville's block has had its tramways destroyed, and biid^es havo beon stripped of their decks in order to save thorn from the comi-.. nation. IN TARANAKI. DESTRUCTION OF HOMESTEADS. NEW PLYMOUTH, 13th February. ln tho Cape Egmont district considerable destruction has been wrought by bush fires. The homesteads of Messrs 'Morrow and Clarke, on the Kahui-road, have been destroyed. Rothery'e sawmill was on fire, but hai been uaved from destruction up to the present. The Opunake Company's sawmill is m danger, and fiws are ragiiig practically over tho whole district to the north and west of Mount Egmont. SCENERY RESERVES IN DANGER. AUCKLAND, 13th February. Jixtensivo fires have occurred in the Otau block, five miles from Clevedon, Wairoa South. Several houses havo been burned, and tho Government scenery reserves are in danger. A SAWMILL'S END. OUTBREAK~SERIOUS. [Bt TiaisGitArH.— Special to The Post.] MASTERTON, This Day. Further particulars of the destruction of Udy's mil! at Hukuniii on Wednesday. Men had been fighting the <srra for a fortnight, and saved the mill several times. On Wednesday slabs of 6awdust were fired, and the heat was st intense that it drove tho men away, and they had to let the mill burn. The diunago is estimated at • £!sOOO. Fires in the district aro still burning fiercely, and mattery will bo still worse unless rain soon falls. INTERRUPTION OF TELEGRAPH WORK, The Telegraph Office advises that Work for stations beyond Taihapo must suffer heavy delay, as communication is totally interrupted by bubh fires.