DROUGHT AND BUSH FIRES.

Colonist, Volume L, Issue 12152, 29 January 1908, Page 2

DROUGHT AND BUSH FIRES.

GREAT DAMAGE IN SHERRY VALLEY. PINCH BACK RANGE SWEPT. FIGHTING THE FLAMES AT RAINY KIVfiK. A SURVEY OF THE POSITION The bil^h and grass fires in the Tadmor and Sherry Valley districts have been in progress for nearly three weeks, and still they give no indication that the terrible havoo they- have wrought hfi9 satiated them. On the contrary each succeeding dny appears t;o find them raging with greater fury, and each day adds a fresh tale to tho record of ruin and . desolation of those formerly prosperous settlement:). Tho settlers are now driven to the last extremity. Their lands denuded ., of feed, their homes in man)' cases destroyed, oud farming operations, being for the present an -impossibility* they are disposing of their sheep for what they will fetch. At the Tadraor yesterday large mobs were sold at from Tjs to 5s 6d per head, A trip through the afflicted districts is the reverse of Hills verdant a few days ago are now . blackened and unsightly valleya formerly thickly wooded, aDd containing in their timber great wealthy have been so ravished by flames as to eutireJy destroy their value as the scenes of sawmiliiug enterprise, and the comfortable homes erected by many of the settlers are now rendered to heaps'of smouldering ruins. . Systematic enquiry shows how great the ldsses^bave beenj - In the Sherry Valley Mr Ourrin is the heaviest loser, between 500 and 600 acres of milling timber, over which he has rights, having been destroyed. Mr Currin est<mtites that the fire will reduce the time of milling in this locality by three years. The mill hands have repeatedly had to cease their regular work in order to save valuable grass country. Mr Currin states that the fire spread into the Sherry from the Wangapeka. In the upper portions of the Sherry Valley, Mr J. L. Rollet lost about 400 acres^of bush felled, and Jyester> day the lire was spreading |to wards this timber, but not Vigorously. If this is consumed, the settlers fear that the flames will sweep the whole of the upper Shorry Valley. I b'ew sheep were lost in the Sherrydistrict. | The fire in the Wangapeka haa been burning for about a fortnight, and has completely devastated the country. .n- On Tuesday last about fifteen helpers .turned out to defend Mi 1 McPhersoils house, and it was only by the first precautions they took that the residence was saved, the fire having approached to within five foot of the house. They worked vigorously for four hours, and were successful in saving the building, but not before some of the men were almost exhausted. A party of workers made a big effort to save Mr Phillips' (junior) dwelling, which was consumed on I Saturday. The house had been repeatedly threatened, and strenuous efforts conquered the fire on three sides, hut on the fourth it got in and soon completed its -ravages. 'Mf Phillips was fortunate enough to save his, furniture, but is stili a heavy loser. A number of sheep wore destroyed. In this valley Mr Roske is also a heavy loser, having had a hundred sheep burned, his farm in addition being swept by flames. Other settlers who have had their grass and bush destroyed are Messrs Gajnsford, Cameron, Moffitt, W. Phillips, aud Wattie. ?Mr property in the Dart Valley was also in clanger yesterday, (he fire being within a mile of the homestead. The township sections of Manau, which were laid down in grass seed by the Government last your, wer« i completely swept on Sunday. Yesterday Mr Heath's sawmill, in this locality, was in great danger, | but after a stern struggle was saved. Mobs of sheep were being driven out of Wangapeka to Tadmor, yesterday the settlers disposing of them at great loss, no food being left on the runs. Settlers in ihe Sherry Valley, which is" generally considered one of the best watered in the district, state that they have never experienced so dry a season, aDd view with much|alarm the continuance of the drought. Those in the northern portion v fear' that fire jwill spread from the Tadmor side. It is reported that tho railway buildings and workmen's huts at Kiwi are in great danger. Equally unfortunate have been those possessing buildings on the Pinchbeck range. The property of Mr P. W. Gibbs, of Tadmor, con sisting of three hundred acres of greea bush, in wbich he contemplated installing a milling plant almost immediately, has been swept, as also has been Mr Peter Pahl'a land on the same ranges. Mr Pahl has lost about one hundred acres of bush which ne had reserved for milling purposes. Mr Stephen iSmitb has suffered the loss of fifty acres of bush. Messrs Moffit, Goodall and R. and T. Hodgkinson have each had one hundred acres swept. Mr Sam Wells, whose farm is opposite the Tadmor school, also bad bis land swept, and it was only with great difficulty that his house and stocks were saved. Most of his fencing was destroyed. Only a change of the wind is re quired to set tre fire going over the dividing range between Tadmor and the Sherry, upon which several small fares were seen yesterday. •• . Messrs Quinney's and Price's sawmills near Tapawera have ceased operations, the owners preferring to take no risks. _ AtKorereon Monday night forty men were engaged in a dtgperate fight tc| save Mr HI. Newport's bouse, woich had been in a dangerous positiou on several occasions. Fortunately their efforts were attended with success, but raspy of the helpers suffereed slight injuries. On the Motupiko side of Rainy Kiver, the fire bad a front of three or four miles, mostly of green bush. Thirty men on Sunday, and twentyone on Monday were continuously engaged in battle with the flames to protect the residences of Mes9is Uoleman and Newport. The houses were saved, "but all the boundary fences and grass were burnt. A big shed, the propery of Mr Newport,, aud filled with oat sheaves, was in great danger of Jfstructon, the heat being so intense js to buckle the rooting iron. A ieam was kept at work drawing a Jray containing tanks, between the •iver and to the scone of action, rhe building was covered with sacks md blankets, which were kept in a jaturatod condition,, and the neigh3ours had the satis action of saving ;he shed from destrifction, though. all . ;he surroundings were destroyed. Mr Rochfort's property, &d joining, vas the next subject of anxiety. Jrgent demands were sent to iohafcu for additional assistance, re call beine readily responded, .to )y practically every able bodied nan in the place, and the battle was . c*pt up unceasingly throughout, r ,the nebt. Yesterday Mr Rocbfort leemed it advisable to send his reafcives who were visiting him to for safety, mid on bis re*

tnrn after driving ;thenv to the Kohatu railway station, found that. despite all efforts, the lire had taken hold on bis properety. The extent of the damage was not ascertainablo last night. Mr Wilkinson, who owns the adjoining property, has removed his sheep to Kohatu for safety. Mr Phillip Newport' 's farm, on the other Bide, was not considered to bo in safety, while if the wind veers.- the flames may advance towatds Kohatu, with disastrous results, and it is feared that unless rain falls soon the tires will extend in the other direction to the Hope. Many of the workers on Monday sustained more or less 3enous losses, and a number of cases of smoke blindnrss are reported. A rumor gained circulation that Messrs Kobertscn Bros. Ltd., large sawmill in the Rai Valley had been destroyed by fire. Enquiries happily ahowad that there was no truth in the report, the mill not being at that time in danger. "We learn that the drought 13 being felt in the Central Buller district though r;ii:i fell thero more recently and abundantly than on this side of the ranges. At the end of last week Mr McDarvell and others at the Hors« Terrace had to tight the tire to protect their homestends, and even in Murohisou residents in places had t) spend a night or two watching their houses owing to the proximity of iiros in the old clearings about the township. Settlers are reported to have had excellent burns of the fallen bush in the .Maruia, Maitai, eta. There is very little tire about the main coach road, but in the side valleys there is a good deal. About 600 a'cre3 of green bush in the lower Maruia Valley caught alight, and is burning.