BUSH FIRE AREA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 18 January 1939, Page 7

BUSH FIRE AREA

1 j ESTIMATES OF PROPERTY DAMAGE INCREASE GENEROUS RESPONSE TO APPEALS C.P.A.—By Electric Telegraph—Cooyri*htl MELBOURNE, 17th January All the bush fire areas are now sate, though large areas of forest are still smouldering. Hundreds of fire-fighters are still Ivorking in many places extinguishing smouldering logs as a precaution before the return of hot weather. The rain, though still heavy in some places, has now ceased here. So generous has been the public response to appeals for food, clothing, and goods that relief workers are toiling day and night sorting j and packing parcels for dispatch to the affected areas. Valuable aid is being given by the Red Cross and the Salvation Army. Estimates of the damage are now rising and the latest assessments: are: Houses, £500,000: postal department, j £35.000: mills, £IOO,OOO. Railway esti-| mates are not yet known but some forecasts say that £1,000,000 damage was done. Insurance companies are expected to pay out £350,000. One result of the fires is likely to be a rise in the price of hardwood timber, | but efforts will be made to prevent exploitation. Many mills will not reopen The postal department has lost 1400 poles, 800 miles of telephone wire and many switchboards and telephones. Some post offices will not be replaced i unless sufficient people return. About £60,000 has now been subi scribed to relief funds, the largest : amount—£3B,ooo —being through the I “Argus” newspaper.