BUSH FIRES STILL ADVANCING

Taranaki Daily News, 14 December 1926, Page 9

BUSH FIRES STILL ADVANCING

TOLL OF SIX LIVES IN NEW SOUTH WALES TERRIBLE HAVOC AMONG LIVE STOCK OVER WIDE AREA RESIDENTS’ FRANTIC FIGHT TO SAVE MENACED TOWN (Press Association—Copyright.) Received December 13, 8.5 p.m. Sydney, December 13. The bush fires continue to advance on Adelong, travelling rapidly before a strong wind. Unless the wind abates, the position of the town will be hopeless as the flames are coming through thickly grassed and wooded country. Men are fighting frantically to save the town. Two more deaths are reported, making a total of six.

One of the deaths occurred at Eulomo Station, near Wagga, where thousands of sheep were roasted. _ James, a retired farmer, fighting the flames, was trapped and fatally burned. The other death was at Urualla, on the North Coast, where David Nillon collapsed after helping to extinguish an outbreak. Sinister rumours are abroad in the Riverina district that phosphorous has been found on the scene of some of the fires, and that unemployed men have been vindictive towards the farmers who refused to engage them. The fires continue in many parts of the State, but the big outbreak at Cootamundra is now under control. The losses of stock are enormous while miles of fencing have been destroyed. Many thousands of sheep in the Cootamundra district were so badly burned that they had to be destroyed. Scenes of desolation meet the eye throughout the State, and the damage is so enormous that it is impossible, so far, to make an estimate. Further messages from the southern and western districts emphasise the seriousness of the fires and the enormous damage done. Nearly half the State is affected. Scores of farmers have lost the fruits of years of labour. The losses include dwellings, out-houses, machinery, crops, pastures and stock. In some parts the flames travelled at the rate of 40 miles an hour, going through farm after farm. A report from Albury states that the total loss in that district exceeds £50,000. In the Wagga district practically every farmer in a strip of country five to 15 miles wide for a distance of 30 miles suffered serious losses. Nothing like it has

been experienced since 1907, when tragic fires occurred. The township of Adelong is threatened by a fire advancing upon it. A fatality is reported from Junee, where it is said the fires are the biggest ever seen in the district. At Milton a timber mill was destroyed, despite the fire break which was prepared round the mill. A large number of men will be thrown out of employment. It is impossible to estimate the damage done in the western district. There, too, the loss of stock is heavy, as well as the loss of standing crops and bagged wheat. Two men are reported missing near Forbes, also two others near Elongelong. Scenes of appalling desolation greet the eye in the Grenfell district, where there are dead and dying stock in all directions. Some are walking about blind. The whole district is overwhelmed by the awful stench from the dead bodies. No timber has been left standing to burn the carcases and coal tar is being taken out for that purpose. Many heroic stories are told of women and girls taking food and drink through the blazing country to the fire fighters. Practically all parts of the State have suffered under the visitation and the devastation is so widespread that it will be many weeks before a proper estimate can be made. The police, throughout the State, have been instructed to afford immediate relief to the sufferers. The Government Savings Bank will also loan sufficient money to enable the losers of homesteads to rebuild. In the stricken districts many men and women are to be seen whose only possessions are the clothes they are wearing.. Many women saved their lives by sheltering in the cattle dams in which they were compelled to continue to immerse themselves to escape the intense heat.