THE HEAT WAVE IN AUSTRALIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11855, 6 January 1902, Page 6

THE HEAT WAVE IN AUSTRALIA.

EXTENSIVE BUSH FIRES) . THOUSANDS OF ACRES ABLAZE. 'V'V'-^ 1 "C :: ' LOSS OF LIFE. — • " SEVERE EXPERIENCES OF SETTLERS. Sydney, December 30. The remarkable haze and trying heat which enveloped Sydney on Saturday were suggestive of the sufferings which many settlers in the country have been passing through. In and around the metropolis the presence of the smoke and the scorching atmosphere were perhaps inconvenient by their unpleasantness,' but • throughout 200 miles of coast country, where bush fires were raging, the visitation .; was calamitous to hundreds of settlers. A flame-swept coast, extending from almost the margin of high-water mark back for many miles, and taking in its area tens of thousands of acres of crop-bearing country, was painfully apparent by Sydney's experience on Saturday. Out at sea there were evidences of the bush fires along the coast, for several shipmasters reported that considerably more than 50 miles off the land they ran into a hedge of black haze and vapour. The sky was obscured, so that no observations could be taken, but as they drew nearer to the land the red glare would how and then break through the smoky, darkness. ' Thus it was that the commander of the San Francisco mail steamer Sierra ■ slowed down on - Saturday morning. He had calculated to make Sydney Heads three hours earlier than he did, but it was impossible to see the ; land until within less than , half-a- H mile or so of the coast. There were other shipmasters . who . yesterday" described : the state of the coast as resembling a gigantic black fogbank, into which once they entered they were powerless to do more than work by dead reckoning. The masters of two sailing vessels from New Zealand— a barque and the other a schoonergave similar accounts. It was stated that a disaster to .a sailing craft, which had got within ear reach of the breakers about Maroubra Beach, was averted by a small steamer running alongside and taking the vessel in tow. A steamer from Newcastle bound to Sydney also passed the Heads in the smoke after daylight on Saturday, and was some- hours m picking up her position. ■ •■'■. • : The maximum shade temperature in Sydney at one p.m. on Saturday was 91.1 deg. This has been exceeded in the present season, 104-deg. having been registered on' the 17th inst. Some of the high temperatures of Saturday were:—Kiandra 82deg. (very remarkable for that township, the highest * mountain town in New South Wales); Dubbo. 108deg.; Hillston. 106deg. (with duststorm); Deniliquin, 105ileg. (with thunder and a few drops of rain); Albury, 108deg.; Bourke, 114-.sdeg.; Forbes, 105deg.; Hay, 108dcg.; Walgett, j llOdeg.; Wilcannia, 109.5deg.