BUSH FIRES

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11706, 19 December 1923, Page 6

BUSH FIRES

RAGING ON EAST COAST WOOLSHEDS, SHEARING PLANT, AND SCHOOLS GONE. NUMBERS OF SHEEP BURNT, Per Press Association. GISBORNE, December 18. Bush and grass fires have caused much damage in different parts of the district, and some settlers have had a trying time fighting fires and endeavouring to save property. There were three distinct fires converging to one point, raging in the Matawai district. At Eliiner’s station, on the Motu Valley road, a woolshed, with 18 bales of wool, also a whare, was destroyed. The recently-built Homebrook school was burned down; at Willan’s homestead a small house, woolshed, wool and shearing plant were destroyed. The fires are abating. At Wharerata, a email bouse, owned by Mr Tietjen, was burned. Damage was also done on the coast, especially within a twenty-mile radius of Tokomaru Bay. Anxiety regarding one area in the Matawai district was relieved to-day, when a messenger got through with news that no serious damage had been done there. The latest report from Tokomaim Bay stated that the gale had dropped, and the fires are abating. NUMBERS OF SHEEP BURNED WAIROA, December 18. Hot, dry weather continues, and bush fires nave been raging in the outlying parts of the district in the last two days, being exceptionally severe. In Raukituri Valley, where much fencing was destroyed and numbers of sheep burnt, several residences and woolsheds narrowly escaped destruction. The exact losses cannot be ascertained until the fires die down. IN WAIRARAPA. ■ A downpour of rain on Sunday in the Wairarapa effectually damped down the bush fires, and on Monday the hills were almost free of smoke. Smouldering fires were still visible on some of the foothills.