FIRE AND DUST.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15063, 9 February 1911, Page 2

FIRE AND DUST.

DANGER AND INCONVENIENCE.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

AUCKLAND, February 7. ( The exceptionally long spell of dry weather we have been having has_ left' the country in a very parched condition, i and if rain does not come along, sooii it ; is quite possible that the disastrous fires of throe years ago, which were so severe in many parts of the province, and par- , ticularly in the Waimarmo, will be repeated. . At this time of the the settlers are busy burning off their clew- 1 togs, and the. tires have been making a 1 cleaner sweep of things than usual. A ] marked instance of the excessive dryness , is to be found on the swamp between Ruakina Junction and MorrinsviUe, As a .rule this is a sopping morass, but for several days it has been on fire, and yesterday the' Rotorua express passed through a wall of smoke in this vicinity. Bush fires are raging in many parts of the country districts surrounding Auckland, big blazes being reported from the Waitakerei ranges. Railway passengers have also an enemy in the dust, which yesterday enveloped • the Rotorua express like a mantle. The fine pumice sand with which the permanent way is ballasted found its way all over everything and everybody. When 'the train arrived at MorrinsviUe Junction the original colour of the carriages was visible only in parts, and inside on cusluons and ledges there was a thick deposit reminiscent of a gold battery in the daj's of dry crushing. In the refreshment car one was forcibly reminded of the truth of the saying that "a man must eat a peek of dirt in his lifetime." But it was rather trying to have to eat it all at once. There is some talk of ballasting the Rotorua section with scoria in place of pumice, but this is still a long way off, and it is rather surprising that the department cannot evolve some scheme to abate' the nuisance. The least they could do would be to have the carriages dusted at MorrinsviUe, when the worst of the ordeal is ovej, or ■> supply cloths for the purpose, to those who do not, care about silting in a dust heap for 171 miles at a stretch.