DREVER'S VALLEY.

Northern Advocate, 10 March 1888, Page 2

DREVER'S VALLEY.

Tiie danger from bush fires is pretty. well over now, and the question will arise who were the originators of those terrible conflagiations? Although in general it is the custom to put everything of that sort down to the gumdiggers, the fires which raged in this settlement, and which have been felt as far as Kaurihohore and Ngunguru, have been solely caused by settlers burning off. One of our settlers cleared last year, after much labour and hardship, successfully one or two acres of flat bush land, but he did not burn it off then on account of it being too wet. Some settlers do not care about safe burns, they want good burns. This land was just in a fit state for burning off at the end of last month, and it burned well, for that man docs not need to do any logging. Hundreds of acres of private and public property ~ot burned, and some houses had a narrow escape ; but that does not matter much. Another settlor had a very good burn about four years ago, when he burned not only his clearing but a good deal of his own and Government bush, besides a few thousand feet of his neighbour's sawn timber. About four weeks ago he started another fire. All around that man's place the green, bush is burned, besides grass, fences, etc. One of the settlers, more than a mile off, lost an old house, another had his shingles burning, and it is not unlikely that this fire travelled as far as Lanigan's bush. A state forest, containing about 200 acres of fine kauris is burning yet. Those old settlers, who burnt off had to fight hard themselves for their homesteads ; but new settlers can take it far easier to burn down their neighbour's property, they only need to put a match to the clearings and then go away. One of our new settlers did so at a clearing hardly a mile off the Union Sash and Door Coy's, and the Hikurangi Mill bushes, and it burned well too. This fire burned one of our new settlers, named Davison, completely out. It got hold of his felled bush so unexpectedly and so quickly, that in less than five minutes everything around his house was one mass of fire, and not many of his belongings could be saved. Others lost more or less green bush, fences, and grass, and the Government bush far around is destroyed. Much sympathy is felt for Mr Davison", who can ill afford his loss, because ho can not get along- like other settlors on account iof tho loss of one oye. But perhaps it is a consolation to him, that ho lives in a country under those grand English laws, where struggling settlers may have their homesteads burned down without much chance of redrese.