BUSH FIRES OUT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16772, 11 October 1928, Page 7

BUSH FIRES OUT

DAMAGE OVER-ESTIMATED KOPUA LOSES 50 SHEEP Heavy rain which fell yesterday afternoon and evening finally quenched the fog and scrub fires which had ravaged a considerable area between Te Kopua and Wharerata, on the main south route, and inspections made on the affected properties showed that the damage had been much less severe than was expected. The principal stock loss was suffered on the Kopua station, where the worst of the fire was experienced, but even there 50 head will probably cover the number of sheep killed by the fire. During the height of the fires, the smoke was so heavy that it was impossible to tell what the stock movements were, but it seems that the sheep on Te Kopua had a remarkable escape. On one face of last year’s burn, which the tire went over in half an hour, there were 300 hoggets grazing, but most of these got out, despite the fact that their progress was impeded.by the large numbers of logs lying about. ‘•The damage was not nearly so bad as we had expected,” Mr. Arthur Tarr, station manager at Te Kopua for the East Coast Native Commission, stated to-day. •It looked pretty bad yesterday, and we did not know how things were going to turn out, but we have not lost more than about 50 head of sheep, and though the other stock is a bit knocked about, it will get through all right. Our fences were scorched and in some places binned, but the fencing generally is in good shape. The fire did not do us as much damage as we expected.” Reports of a similar character were received to-day from other stations affected by Tuesday’s outbreak, each indicating that the losses had been less severe than the conditions yesterday had led the farmers to expect. Next to Te Kopua, Mr. W. Tome's property was most affected by the fires, and his stock losses are small, though lie has lost a

good deal of feed, and the fences are down in several places. Other stations in the track of the blaze should be able to provide work for fencers, too, the long growth at the base of the posts having caught quickly during the height of the fire, and in turn set the posts aflame. Mr. Torrie’B dipping yard was damaged by a falling tree, which crashed on to the rail fences and demolished a section of them. To-day’s survey of the situation is far better than could have been imagined on Tuesday, when the blaze was at its strongest, and the settlers may vet find the effects of the fire more beneficial than otherwise, for it has made a great clearance of logs and second-growth about their properties, and once the immediate inconvenience has passed, the station pastures will show a compensating improvement