BUSH FIRES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 337, 15 February 1911, Page 4

BUSH FIRES.

i $ | LOSS OF GRASS, j EFFECT ON SHEEP SALE. Great bush fires are raging throughout the lower King Country. For ' nearly a month now net a drop of rain has fallen locally, and the winds of a few days ago have fanned the flames of the burns to such an extent that in many localities the fires are beyond the control of settlers. In the Ohura, and the Mangaotaki, Mairoa and Aria districts big fires are reported, and much grass has been burned, though fortunately so far, no loss of stock is mentioned. At Aria the fires caught the sawdust at the Aria mill and would have speedily devoured that structure had willing hands not rapidly dismantled the mill and checked the fire. As a result of the continued dry weather the sheep fair at Pio Pio on Monday was a complete failure. Some 10,000 sheep were yarded but only a very few lines changed hands, settlers being evidently frightened of the immediate future. The present critical position of the sheep market recalis the experience of 1907. when prices feli to such an alarming extent, owing to the lengthened spell of drought and the absence of grass.