FIERCE GALE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23276, 20 February 1939, Page 8

FIERCE GALE

DAMAGE IN SOUTH / HUTS BLOWN DOWN CHAIN OF BUSH FIRES CAMP SCHOOL BURNED [by teiegbaph—pur.ss association*! CHRISTCHURCH, Sunday A great deal of minor damage was done at Public Works Department camps on the South Island main trunk line between Kaikoura and Blenheim and at ono or two points further south by a fierce north-westerly gale which, starting late on Saturday evening, blew at great force for three hours. The most-" serious result was the burning of tho big camp school at Aniseed, the headquarters camp on the northern sector of the line. 4 A chain of isolated bush fires started and raged along a front of between two and three miles, one reaching the outskirts of the camp and burning th<j school to the ground before it could bo saved. At a camp further north a gale of almost cyclonic force blew down a rot? of six substantial huts of wood and canvas and tore off the roof of the cookhouse and carried it a distance of nearly half a mile. The cookhouse at Aniseed was partly destroyed by wind and the roof was also torn off the school. - At the Oaro headquarters camp on the southern sector no one was injured, but at least 30 huts were either blown completely down or damaged. There were minor interruptions to telegraph and telephone services.