TOLL OF BUSH FIRES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19512, 16 December 1926, Page 16

TOLL OF BUSH FIRES.

NELW SOUTH WALES LOSSES. * SEVERAL MEN LOSE LIVES. MUCH DAMAGE TO PROPERTY. [from OUR OWN correspondent,] SYDXEY, Dec. 1,0. An extraordinarily dry, hot spring and early summer in New South Wales have pathed the way for the fire fiend in many parts of tins State. A few weeks ago fires ravaged many parts of the North Coast district, and for days thick palls; ol smoke hung over the coast and even many miles out to sea. In those fires much valuable timber, thousands of acres of all-too-scarce pasturage, many miles of fences and a few homes were destroyed. Showers of rain extinguished most of those outbreaks. With another few weeks of dry weather, this vi'eek witnessed a revival of (he fires, the western districts in this instance being most sen-' ously concerned. They were even more serious than these ilia the North Coast, and at ieasi three deaths have resulted from them. Other men have been seriously burned. Serious fires started in the Dubbo district on Sunday night, following a day when the temperature was 105 degrees.. The fires were stated to have been caused by sparks from a train proceeding from Queensland to Melbourne. It is known positively to have starred five fires within a period of six mites. As a result oif one fire, Norman Robert Beveridge., a well-kiaown grazier, polo player and allround sportsman, received injuries which resulted in his death. He and three other men were fighting itiio fire on his property when they were overtaken by the flames and ran for their motor-car. The engine of the car refused to start and all four men were severely burnt, They were brought into hospital at Dubbo and Beveridge died the following morning. Two of the other men are still. In a critical condition. Victims of the Flames. In the Parkes district the damage .is estimated aii £IOO,OOO, comprising many wheat crops, haystacks, harvested wheat, homesteads, grass, • fencing, timber and livestock. A station employee named Charles Allen, an Englishman, was- lighting the flames when he was suffocated by smoke,. Another wan in thi« district is missing, A station-owner, alter a hard day's lighting the 'flames, was so seriously ie:chauited and burned that he died on Monday night. Fires have been reported to have' swept through scorer, of farms, destroying crops on which their owners were hanking for. a year of prosperity. Weeks of hard work have been nullified in a few hours by the fires. Practically all the outbreak;; appear to have started in dry grass and to have swept# into cultivated paddocks. Desperate efforts to save homes and crops have been made by gallant firefighters. The experience of Mr. Charles Schier, who has a property in the Forbes district, has been typical of many. His whole holding of 1476 acres was swept by flames. Afterwards burnt and broken fences were to be seen on every hand, and scattered about the tod : were hundreds of deed sheep. Four hundred acres out oj! 800 of 'tainting crop were destroyed. Mr. Schier wai; engaged in stripping this, wheat when the fire raced down on him. He had time only to get the; stripping machine on to fallow la.nd before the fire ran through tha crop like a gigantic scythe. Wheat Farmers.' Heavy losses. Undoubtedly it was a Black Sunday for many of .these farmers in the great wheat belt of the State.. While Sydney surfed and bathed, these sons of the earth fought. for their worldly ,pc.saes-: sions in the sweltering heal; and cyclonic wind that bore the flames at express speed from farm to farm. Gallant and neighbourly co-operation by fire-fighters lessened the toll, but how serious the damage was may be gauged from a calculation oil the estimates from a dozen districts, such' as Forbes, Parkes, Treacle, Narromine, Peak Hill, Dubbo, and Wellington. These are the "capitals" oi: the wheat-producing regions, and at h conservative estimate their combined losses are not less than £400,000.